Stefanos Tsitsipas praises Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic

World no. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas had to work hard to beat Egor Gerasimov in the Rotterdam opening round on Tuesday night, prevailing in straight sets in just under two hours.

Speaking about tennis legends, Stefanos praised his childhood idol Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, saying they have both achieved incredible things on the court. In Stefanos' opinion, Novak has played on an astonishing level in the past seven or eight years, improving his game every season and challenging his opponents to follow that pace if they wanted to stay competitive.

"Federer has done incredible things in tennis. Not that Djokovic hasn't done it, but for me, Federer has always been an idol I grew up with. The things Djokovic has accomplished in the last seven or eight years are unthinkable. It has raised its level so much; every year, it seems to get better. All I can say is a big thumbs up. I think the new generation could do something similar in the future.

I do not think anyone 15 years ago expected Federer to surpass the Sampras record. It is difficult to predict what will happen. We as a new generation have many players capable of achieving big things," Stefanos Tsitsipas said.