Stefanos Tsitsipas backtracks over Roger Federer special treatment claim

Stefanos Tsitsipas has reversed his claim that Roger Federer receives special treatment. The Greek star stated that Federer and other top stars benefit from “privileges” from match officials. He tweeted: “I think players that have been doing really well over the years, players that are generally much respected in the tennis world, have privileges when it comes to certain rules and umpire decisions. I felt this [a] couple of times when playing these guys and I think it’s a bit unfair.” However, he has now removed Federer’s name from that criticism. “After thinking about it too much in my vacation, the thing that I said… I didn’t really mean it in that vain way,” he said at the Monte Carlo Masters. “I meant it in a completely different way. I guess I actually said it during a match, I don’t know if the microphone caught that, in a doubles match. It was completely wrong from my side I have to admit, it wasn’t even close to what I wanted to say, I don’t know why I said it this way. It came out wrong. “I did have situations in the past against players that like to take a lot of time between points and I don’t want to mention any names but it was very disturbing and it felt wrong because the referees and umpires wouldn’t say anything. If I would do the same thing, I would get a time violation or a warning and that’s what I meant by that. I didn’t specify, just because I said Roger’s name – whatever he does he doesn’t really take too much time, he’s always had the momentum of the game. I was wrong in that.”

Source-Metro 

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