Let the record show that at 6.39pm on Monday, 2 July, Stefanos Tsitsipas won his first main draw match at Wimbledon. The first, one would think, of many.
The Athens-raised son of a Greek father and Russian mother, 19-year-old Tsitsipas is the third-youngest man in the ATP’s top 100, behind Canadian Denis Shapovalov and Australian Alex De Minaur.
He is already the best-performed male player his country has produced, and although, admittedly, the bar had not been set particularly high, Tsitsipas continues to raise hopes and expectations in his homeland.
His favourite tournament: Wimbledon. His idol growing up: the eight-time champion Roger Federer. His preferred surface: grass.
Court 18 hosted Monday’s 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-5 defeat of French qualifier Gregoire Barrere, Tsitsipas finishing with 17 aces among 45 winners, and 20 unforced errors to Barrere’s 40.
He dropped serve twice, including when up a break at 3-2 in the third set and seemingly headed for a relatively straightforward victory. But if the talented teen should probably have won earlier, he eventually found a way against the No.188 ranked Barrere to advance in two hours, 29 minutes.
Tsitsipas’ fondness for a dive volley is a little Becker-esque, although in the process of one forehand attempt early in the fourth set the acrobatic Greek managed to whack the side of his face with his racquet as his arm hit the ground. Better a bruised face, though, than the red one that would have resulted from losing a match he had been well on track to win.
Tsitsipas still needs to get stronger, physically, and his movement was tested by Barrere’s regular use of the drop shot, but his serve - particularly - and forehand are the pillars of a game that also features a single-handed backhand, and there is still clearly much that can be improved.
His relief afterwards was palpable, for a fifth set was not territory he wished to explore. Tsitsipas’ second round opponent will be another of the the ATP’s #NextGen poster boys, American Jared Donaldson, who defeated Malek Jaziri in straight sets.
Certainly, the 6ft 4in Tsitsipas has made big strides since qualifying for The Championships’ main draw 12 months ago and losing in straight sets to Dusan Lajovic. Then: ranked No.192. Now: ranked No.35.
His first Grand Slam seeding, No.31, comes after a fine clay court season in which he defeated Dominic Thiem to reach the semi-finals in Barcelona and world No.8 Kevin Anderson in Estoril. Yet he also has the type of big-serving, attacking game to succeed on grass, and an ambition to play what he likes to call “confident tennis”.
While coached by his father, Apostolos, the teenager’s more notable tennis genes come through his mother, the former Julia Apostoli-Salnikova. She, too, is a former world No.1 junior, played Fed Cup for the USSR and reached a career-high ranking - although not, by her own account, her full potential - of No.194, after switching to play under the Greek flag in 1990.
Now her son is flying it, at least in a tennis sense, while the women’s standard-bearer is the improving 22-year-old Maria Sakkari, who is also closing in on the top 30. Collectively, Greek tennis has much to be optimistic about, and, just over a month from his 20th birthday Tsitsipas is leading the way.
And the number of grass courts in Greece when he was growing up? “None,’’ Tsitsipas smiled. “Only at the fields where the cows were - maybe.’’
Asked how it felt to win his first main draw match at Wimbledon, Tsitsipas said: “Spectacular. It's obviously a dream of every single player I believe out there who wants to (play) at Wimbledon, and I'm super excited that this year I'm seeded.
“It's a dream come true. To be winning at Wimbledon and playing good tennis and enjoying it - not always but sometimes - when I'm playing good, I'm enjoying it the most. So playing at Wimbledon, it's just the best.’’
I start thinking too much, and when I think too much, things tend to go not the way I want them to go.
Tsitsipas said that despite the early nerves, he had played good tennis from the beginning. Then, when he led by a set: "I start thinking too much, and when I think too much, things tend to go not the way I want them to go.
“Fourth set was brilliant from my side. I stayed calm, positive, and down to earth. So it helped a lot to win the fourth set by behaving this way.''
Along with his imposing serve and fast-developing groundstrokes being honed at the Mouratoglou Academy in France, Tsitsipas rates concentration as one of his biggest areas of improvement.
“Being calm when I play is very important. Sometimes it's not easy because there is a lot of tension, people shouting expectations from your team to do a little bit better. But at the end, staying calm and positive is the most important thing for me. Just helps me play so much better.’’