Stat of the Day: Stefanos Tsitsipas scores 20th clay-court win of the year

With his 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 fourth-round win over Pablo Carreno Busta at Roland Garros on Sunday, Stefanos Tsitsipas improved to 20-3 on clay this year, the first player—man or woman—to reach 20 tour-level wins on the surface in 2021. He had previously been tied with Federico Delbonis at 19.

Tsitsipas is now through to the fourth Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career, having previously reached the semifinals at the 2019 Australian Open, 2020 Roland Garros and the 2021 Australian Open.

The Greek was asked afterwards about his knack for reaching the business end of majors.

“I think it’s just about adapting and getting used to things,” he said. “In the beginning you’re not, I would say, fully in the thing yet. You try to see what things work, the surface, the balls and everything. Of course, you might have some knowledge from the previous years that you’ve played there.

“But in Grand Slams, it’s all about the endurance and being able to show up and do your job once every two days, and do it well. Of course, you have to show up for work every single day, whether that’s practice or a match.

"It’s demanding. It takes a lot of attention, a lot of effort. I’ve actually grown up into loving that process and wanting to repeat that. It’s a process that can be very demanding, but that’s what our sport is all about. That’s what makes our sport so spectacular.”