Stefanos Tsitsipas has given fans four hours to answer a maths equation he wrote on the camera lens after upsetting Taylor Fritz at the Shanghai Masters. The Greek star came back from a set down to beat the 11th seed 3-6 7-5 6-3, reaching the last 16 at a Masters 1000 event for just the second time this season.
Afterwards, he wrote ‘x² + y√z x 28 = ?’ on the camera lens in celebration, and then revealed that he “manifested” the result against Fritz. Now, the world No. 43 has set his supporters a challenge.
Four hours to solve
After leaving the court, Tsitsipas shared a screenshot of his equation to social media and wrote: “You have four hours.” The 28-year-old also asked for answers during his post-match interview, and said the formula also reflected the match.
“I would like people to give me their answers. Not a huge fan of math myself but it was an assessment of today’s math,” he said.
“X, Y, Z being thrown around, overcomplicated things, but at the end, it felt like 1, 2, 3 was much easier than any of those theories I might have had in the beginning. I found a good answer and I’m extremely happy with myself that I kept things neat and simple towards the end.”
Battle back to victory
Tsitsipas became frustrated early in the first set as he continued to fend off break points, and Sky Sports commentators even had to apologise for one X-rated rant. But he battled back to earn his seventh top-20 win of the season.
“I was manifesting today’s match and I was trying to put myself in a victorious situation, trying to be ready for a big fight against Taylor,” the former world No. 3 explained. “I’ve always had big fights against him and some of my biggest matches were played facing him on the other side of the court. So I had to up my level, I think.
“My serve had to stay really consistent throughout this match in order to get those chances and really get behind him. Once I started doing that, I felt like a lot of doors were open and I was able to really unleash my biggest potential out there.”
Fans point out flaw
As for Tsitsipas’ equation, several fans have pointed out that it cannot be solved. “Are those x y and z? You can't solve for three variables with one equation bro,” one user wrote. Another said: “An equation with two variables and no extra data? Looks like an incomplete puzzle!”
