‘I have to serve well against Monfils’

dubai — Gael Monfils had the measure of the Greek sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas when they locked horns over a semifinal berth three weeks ago in Sofia.

Now as they meet again for a place in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the 20-year-old Tsitsipas says it will be a different-ball game on Friday.

“Yeah, I think it’s a different match now. We’re not playing in altitude with heavy balls. It’s completely different. The court is pretty slow,” the fifth seeded player said after his quarterfinal win over Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday.

“I mean, we’re both serving really well. We have similar game style. I guess I’m a bit more aggressive than him, but he’s much faster,” he added.

“I’m going to have to deal with all of that, be patient, play with passion as well, just wait for the opportunities to break him.”

But Tsitsipas admitted that he would struggle to fight against the mercurial Monfils if he lacked the sting in his serve.

“I think I’m going to have to serve well. Is it tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow. I think I’m going to have to serve well to win that match. If I don’t serve well, I’ll have trouble,” he said.

Tsitsipas’s semifinal run in Dubai following his Marseille triumph is likely to make him the youngest top-10 player on the next ATP rankings list. “What it means? I’m thinking about it almost every day. I want it badly. I want it to happen very much,” he admitted.

“I know I’ll have to win a couple of crucial matches to get there. The point difference is pretty big. I’m going to have to dominate more.”

Reaching the top-10, says Tsitsipas, has always been a big goal for him. “It’s a good motivation, exactly, because I’m so close, to get it as early as possible,” he said.

“Me personally, I feel like I have the game to be there already, maybe even in the future. But it’s better if it happens as soon as possible. It’s better for me, for my confidence as well.”