This No.11 ranked tennis player will be documenting the U.S. Open his own way

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

The U.S. Open started today in New York City. Fans are watching the world’s best tennis players at the year’s final Grand Slam tournament. But one of the tennis stars will be turning his lens on what he sees off the court, as Harrison Malkin reports.

HARRISON MALKIN, BYLINE: Stefanos Tsitsipas is always looking to find the right angle to frame his shot on the court, and photography has allowed the Greek star to focus on the little things while not obsessing on trying to be perfect.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: That’s well played from Tsitsipas.

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS: I’ve actually decreased on that sense of perfection, and it has helped me in my tennis as well, not trying to capture the best shot, not trying to go for the most, let’s say, amazing play. It just has to be precise, and it has to make sense.

MALKIN: Watching YouTuber Casey Neistat’s videos and buying his first camera in 2016 spurred his passion.

TSITSIPAS: I really wanted to showcase my life and maybe do what he started with the daily vlogging, to try and implement that into my own career and life. I felt at the time there wasn’t – there weren’t a lot of tennis players that did that.

MALKIN: Neistat inspired the 11th-ranked Tsitsipas to create a YouTube channel where he documents his adventures, from hiking the Swiss Alps to winning the Monte-Carlo ATP Masters in April.

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TSITSIPAS: I have been able to develop into a better person. I feel like, you know, much more intellectual, much more sophisticated person than if I would have just been playing tennis.

MALKIN: In fact, the year he bought his camera, he made it to at least the quarterfinals of every tournament he played in. Patrick Mouratoglou, the French tennis coach who worked with Serena Williams for a decade, agrees that art has helped Tsitsipas’ game.

PATRICK MOURATOGLOU: He’s always been like this. It’s not new. He’s very different from all the other players. And I think it’s important for him also to have moments when he disconnects from tennis.

MALKIN: In New York, Tsitsipas likes to set his lens on the Upper East Side and the Brooklyn Bridge. But before he has a chance to go back there, he’ll compete Tuesday morning in the first round of the U.S. Open.

For NPR News, I’m Harrison Malkin in New York. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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