At the beginning of the press conference, the head of the national team in the Davis Cup, Apostolos Tsitsipas, referred to the victims of Thessaly due to the bad weather, Daniel, and emphasized that everyone’s thoughts were with them.
The Davis Cup will take place in Kallimarmaro on September 16th and 17th, with Greece taking on Slovakia.
The head of the Greek mission, Apostolos Tsitsipas spoke at the press conference on Thursday (September 14th) about holding the event in Greece, the devastating floods in Thessaly, but also about the establishment of a national tennis center.
“For my part, I would like to welcome all journalists and media representatives who will cover this beautiful event. I would also like to welcome all the officials, the people who helped organize the event.
As Mr Zannias also said, we have a duty to hold the event in Greece against Slovakia as usual, always keeping in mind what has happened in our country recently.
Our thoughts are there, we feel compassion for these people and all children will try to take part in the competition as modestly as possible. I would also like to say a few words about Slovakia and welcome one of the most interesting teams in Europe.
They have perhaps the tightest and most consistent squad in Davis Cup competition with quality players. We wish them good luck and that an impressive event will take place, that the games will be beautiful with the participation of all players.
The response from the people was, as you also said, great and honored the event in the Olympic Stadium as it will now be. Tennis has become a very popular sport in Greece and we are slowly acquiring its culture, with the state taking the right steps in this direction.
The Federation is also working hard and synchronizing this. As for the National Tennis Center, I think that there have been attempts to implement such an initiative from time to time, now the conditions are more mature, although it is not so easy.
It’s not easy because we need support beyond the state. We need sponsors because tennis is a demanding sport. In order to adequately support the athletes, large financial resources are required. I think the sponsors are ready now, they know the requirements. With the current level of support for sport, the conditions are ideal for something like this to happen soon.”
On the absence of Stefanos Sakellaridis: “Because I took this issue personally, as I did with all athletes to invite them to the national team.
I have had several conversations with Mr. Sakellaridis’ family, the people responsible for his racing program, but unfortunately Stefanos Sakellaridis is now active in racing in Asia.
He had arranged matches there, and since he appears to be doing well in the tournaments he takes part in, he has decided to expand his competitive activities in China, as he obviously will not have the opportunity to take part in the national team matches now.
I think Stefanos is currently at a competitive level of advancement, we can’t blame him. It was a personal decision. He is at a relatively young age, he is almost 19 years old, so we respect his decision, we wish him all the best and I believe he will be with us at a future Davis Cup.”
When he met his children again after the US Open, he said: “It’s nice to see your children again on the Davis Cup team. After such a long journey to America and seeing your children making progress and being able to stand on their own makes me very proud and we will definitely fight together here to achieve our goal.
I think everything is fine, everything is going well and we will be ready to enjoy these moments. I would say my soul was with them at the US Open too. Biologically I wasn’t there, but my love was there and that was enough.”
