Stefanos Tsitsipas exclusive interview: 'It is important for me to have hobbies, to be in my own world. Otherwise I would go crazy'

It only takes a few minutes in the company of Stefanos Tsitsipas to realise that this is hardly your typical Millennial sportsman. Possessing an inquisitive mind, Tsitsipas is a photographer, a traveller, and a philosopher - of sorts.

He is also something of an outsider, viewed with suspicion by many of his peers. World No. 4 Alexander Zverev for instance was disdainful of Tsitsipas in August after losing an ill-tempered Rogers Cup quarter-final. "I don’t think he played that well. I think the match was absolutely pathetic on all levels," Zverev said. A few weeks later Nick Kyrgios tweeted "da fuq" (meaning, in a fashion, "what on earth?") in response to Tsitsipas musing with typical wide-eyed innocence that: “It’s amazing how many different sounds you can hear while walking in NYC. Just close your eyes and absorb!”

Tsitsipas is clearly a little bit different. Where many of his contemporaries spend their free time playing computer games like Fortnite and Fifa, Tsitsipas - only 20 years old and the 15th best tennis player in the world - is happier discussing his passion for photography, podcasting and solo travel. When talking about the way he edits photos for instance, Tsitsipas explained to The Telegraph that: "Black and white photography is not just black and white, it shows also what’s hiding among the greys."

Does it bother Tsitsipas that he is seen by some as an outsider? "I’m different in a way that’s 'I’m Stefanos' and that’s the most important thing," he says. "I’m proud to be Stefanos, proud to be who I am."

Perhaps it's inevitable that Tsitsipas is not to everyone's taste - in a school environment you can picture him as the arty philosophy student compared to his peers' sport-loving jocks. After all, it doesn't get much more quirky than lugging around expensive camera equipment in order to record and painstakingly edit YouTube travel vlogs and your own podcast, all the while trying to capture the perfect photo.

Tsitsipas - born and raised in a seaside suburb of Athens - also comes across as extremely self-assured, buoyed by a breakthrough 2018 that saw him start the year ranked No. 91 and finish 76 places higher. When we speak, he showcases his interest in fashion - another passion of his - by wearing a bespoke-looking patterned shirt, stylish v-necked sweater and brown velvet jacket. Stick thin and 6ft 4in, Tsitsipas would scarcely look out of place on a catwalk.

With so many outside interests, as well as a thrilling playing style and flowing locks that are kept out of his eyes by a Bjorn Borg-esque headband, you have to wonder: is this men's tennis' next megastar? Perhaps January’s Australian Open, the first grand slam of the year, will offer a few clues.

"I don't think success comes straight away so I have to build and improve," Tsitsipas says of the expectations surrounding him, letting out a nervous giggle that is the only reminder he is barely out of his teens. "But I've already learned a lot.

"Failing in 2017 over and over again helped me to grow and become better because I really believe that without failure there’s no success."

Tsitsipas's breakout event was last August's Rogers Cup - a Masters competition one rung below the grand slams - in Toronto, where aged 19 he became the youngest player ever to defeat four top-10 opponents at the same ATP tournament. As well as the high-profile scalps, which included current world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, Tsitsipas thrilled supporters with his diving volleys and a single-handed backhand as picturesque as the landscapes he so enjoys capturing.

He ended up losing in the final to Rafael Nadal, but in October Tsitsipas became the first Greek to win an ATP title at the Stockholm Open. A month later he cemented his reputation as the coming force in men's tennis by winning the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. The only minor blemish on his annus mirabilis came at the Next Gen Finals when he was criticised for questioning the rule that meant players had to fetch their own towels rather than rely on the ball kids to do it.

But this will likely soon be viewed as part of the learning process that has seen Tsitsipas become the youngest player in the world's top 20. His next challenge is the Australian Open where he has the chance to show he is ready to become Greece's first major champion.

Tsitsipas says he is "very proud to be an ambassador of the game in my country" but he reveals that he is also fuelled by personal tragedy, and a desire to honour his beloved childhood doctor and friend Thomas Christidis, who died in 2017.

"He was my doctor from when I was 10 for eight years. He has helped me a lot, and I’m still sad that he’s not with us," Tsitsipas says.

"It pushes me to do better. He was my biggest fan, he was always cheering for me, watching me on TV, at our tennis club. People at our tennis club said he was always talking about me. He helped me for free, and he was always near when I needed him so he was like a second father to me."

When the conversation moves on, a visibly upset Tsitsipas responds after a pause: "Sorry what? Sorry, my mind was somewhere else."

Tsitsipas himself was involved in a near-death experience four years ago when his father Apostolos saved him from drowning in Crete. Tsitsipas misjudged the current and strength of the waves, and believes he was only a few breaths away from dying. He has spoken about the incident previously, and says he is determined to take the positives from it - in particular now not being afraid of anything.

Going further back, Tsitsipas has been moulded by the sporting education and genes handed down to him by his parents. Apostolos has coached his son since childhood, while Tsitsipas‘s mother Julia is a former junior world No. 1 and earned Fed Cup honours for the Soviet Union. Julia's father - Tsitsipas's grandfather - Sergei Salnikov was a footballer who won Olympic gold with the Soviet Union in 1956.

But exceptional sporting pedigree is just a small part of what makes Tsitsipas so unique. He is an emotional character on court, yet what really stimulates him off it are his artistic pursuits.

"I’m very happy that I’ve found things to keep me busy," Tsitsipas says. "I have a podcast that I record, which is like a get-away for me. The travel blog that I do is so nice to be able to talk to a camera, with no people.

"It is for me important to have hobbies. Otherwise I would go crazy playing tennis all the time. These hobbies help me take me some time out, think about something else, relax, be in my own world. They help me remain balanced in my personal life and be more creative and stimulated.

"There are so many different things in life. Photography is what I choose because I like it and I do it well. I’m also learning from tutorials and hopefully this will become a second job one day.

"I’m really interested in street photography. Also landscapes, wildlife photography, animals, portrait photography of people, and I calibrate my photos. I don’t leave them the way they are."

If Tsitsipas already sounds a little like a Gap Year traveller searching for the meaning of life, then the perception is reinforced by details of a solo trip he took last year to the British Virgin Islands, which in his words "helped me be in my own world and get closer to my soul".

Tsitsipas hopes to repeat the trip in 2019. "I still have the necklace from there," he says, revealing it from under his shirt. "I have had it with me the entire year. It’s like a good luck charm.

"I just love it there. I get to spend time with myself, understand my personality, understand the way I think, work. Basically get closer to my own self because sometimes I feel like I don’t really know myself all that well. I pretend that I know but I don’t really because there are so many people involved, doing things for me, arranging everything. I just play tennis and I’m not Stefanos sometimes, I’m the tennis player."

Our time together is nearly up, and I have one final question. Where does his philosophical side come from? Tsitsipas smiles, and says: "I don’t know, probably I’m a relative of Socrates."