Quote of the Day: Stefanos Tsitsipas blames “melatonin pills and naps” for sluggish performance against Alcaraz

WATCH: Carlos Alcaraz defeats Stefanos Tsitsipas in the 2023 Roland Garros quarterfinals

Stefanos Tsitsipas’ campaign at Roland Garros came to an end on Tuesday at the hands of an inspired Carlos Alcaraz, who raced into the quarterfinals after a one-sided 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (5) victory.

Tsitsipas had very few answers as he was overpowered in the first two sets, and his last-minute comeback attempt came too little, too late. In the second set he hit only three winners and 13 unforced errors, no match for the on-song world No. 1.

“It wasn't really that much fun out there in the first two sets. I felt completely off, kind of like sleeping in a way,” Tsitsipas said afterward.

In fact, too much sleep was the key issue according to Tsitsipas, who apparently power napped a little bit too hard before their match’s 8:30 p.m. start time:

Q. Can you explain how tough is the challenge to play against Alcaraz?

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: Well, guys, I don't have a lot of things to tell you. He played great. I mean, I don't think he played exceptional, but he played great.

One thing that I'm going to try to avoid in the future is to have melatonin pills and naps before matches because it clearly doesn't seem to be working.

To be fair to Tsitsipas, it’s no surprise he was running on too little sleep. The 24-year-old had been scheduled last on Court Suzanne Lenglen in his previous two matches, before Alcaraz during the Chatrier night session.

“Schedule has been a little bit difficult the last few days,” Tsitsipas explained. “I had some late-night sessions. Not super late, but late enough for me to kind of have my sleep schedule ruined, in a way.

“Sleep is a very vital important thing, and recovery is the most important thing when competing and playing big Slams like this.”

After his latest melatonin mishap, Tsitsipas says he’s ready to learn from his mistakes. He recalled another incident at the 2019 Paris Masters when he took melatonin for a nap before a match against Novak Djokovic—the result was a similarly one-sided 6-1, 6-2 defeat.

“I feel like melatonin really likes 1 and 2.”