Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev's heated clashes in their early matches are well-known, but the Greek No. 1's tone was much more respectful when asked Medvedev before their most recent match.
Both men have been at the top of men's tennis for several years now. Medvedev won the 2021 US Open and reached five other Grand Slam finals, while Tsitsipas was a finalist at the 2021 French Open and the 2023 Australian Open.
Tsitsipas and Medvedev have had epic battles against several players, but their rivalry became particularly notable due to fiery clashes between the pair during their matches.
The most notable of these was in their very first meeting at the 2018 Miami Open. Medvedev was incensed after claiming Tsitsipas referred to him as a "bull***t Russian" during the contest in Florida.
After coming back to win the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, Medvedev slammed Tsitsipas, saying, "You better shut your f**k up" and calling him a "small kid who doesn't know how to fight."
Another incident occurred in the 2022 Australian Open semifinal. Medvedev, who also won that match, raged at the umpire for doing nothing about the coaching Stefanos was receiving from his father throughout the match.
They played the 14th match of their rivalry in the round of 16 at the Shanghai Masters. Despite having an injury concern during the match, Medvedev defeated the Greek to extend his winning record to 10-4.
There was a heated moment during the match, but it was not directed between the players. Tsitsipas was unhappy about being given a time violation by the Irish umpire, Fergus Murphy.
However, Tsitsipas spoke much more respectfully about Medvedev. The three-time Monte-Carlo Masters Champion said he used to be disparaging about Medvedev's playing style but admits to being wrong about that.
"I think there are a lot of perhaps thing that he has brought into the game that are, I could consider, quite unorthodox, because you haven't seen a lot of players in the past, you know, play the way that he does... in the past I might have said some mean stuff about his game, but after actually thinking about those things, I think I was completely wrong in that."
"There's a lot of interesting things in his game that he brings that are very different from other players. I think that's what makes him unique as a player, because you don't see players like him very often, and it gives tennis another dimension in terms of how it can be played and how differently it can be crafted."
Tsitsipas was also asked if his improved relationship with Medvedev indicated they are friends. The 26-year-old responded that a better description would be that he respects him more than before.
"I consider him someone that I respect on the tour, much more than I did before. We've had some heated things on-court in the past, but I think those those things have resolved themselves over time, and obviously we also had the time to speak about those things and have a common understanding of why these things happen."