Shopping in Stuttgart With Stefanos: Underwear, ice cream and a fire extinguisher

STUTTGART—What could underwear, ice cream and a fire extinguisher all have in common? For Stefanos Tsitsipas, these items marked his first three orders of business in Stuttgart.

After accepting singles and doubles wild cards into this week’s BOSS Open, an ATP 250-level event on grass, Tsitsipas arrived on Saturday. Having never played the tournament before, local media were interested in knowing what the Greek had been up to thus far in an unfamiliar city.

Tsitsipas paused briefly before revealing, “I went for some underwear shopping,” as laughs broke out. “Yeah, not enough of them.”

The world No. 5 then reeled off two more random activities.

“I went for a good ice cream that you have here in the city. I'm a huge enthusiast. I love ice cream. So I wanted to go check out this place,” Tsitsipas continued.

“And I bought a fire exhaust for my apartment back home, just as a decor thing. I saw it in the shop, two fire exhausts. I was like, ‘I need one just in case if if my energy ever sets my apartment on fire.’ Or on court, you can always grab it quick. What am I saying? It's a fire extinguisher.”

After a strong European clay-court season that included a successful title defense in Monte Carlo, runner-up effort in Rome and semifinal run in Madrid, the 23-year-old’s flame burned out sooner than expected at Roland Garros, where the 2021 finalist was ousted in the round of 16 by Holger Rune.

With it provided an opportunity to reevaluate his schedule. Tsitsipas is bidding to lift a trophy on grass for the first time and believes his style of play should translate over to more positive showings with a better understanding of the nuances the playing environment presents.

“I loved the surface from the very beginning. I think it suited my game. It was perfect for my game style, which is coming in. I'm not a player who plays too much from the baseline. I like coming to the net and finishing it with volley,” he said.

“I used to serve and volley a lot in my early prime junior years. You cannot really allow yourself to do that too much because the times have changed. But it's a good thing that I went from way too aggressive to moderate, which helps me balance things out a little bit.”

Entering 2022, Tsitsipas was 8-8 at the tour level on grass. Stuttgart's top seed asserts Paris is in the rear-view mirror as he looks forward to the challenge of improving his body of work during one of the shortest swings of the year.

“I've had a little bit of success on this surface in the past, but in the last two years, I'm not where I want to be. So I'm just looking for something different this year,” he said.

“Hopefully it can come with the right intentions that I'm going to put out there and being fully present and committed to do my job.”

Tsitsipas was due to take the court Tuesday for his opening-round doubles match with younger brother Petros Tsitsipas and is slated to make his singles debut on Thursday.