Greek tennis superstar Stefanos Tsitsipas says he has found in Michail Pervolarakis a strong and dependable number two for the Greek Davis Cup team after the team’s success in seeing off Poland in a tough encounter during the recent Europe Group III Davis Cup event at Tatoi Club in Athens.

The 23-year-old Pervolarakis, who is of Greek and Cypriot parentage, won three of his four singles matches and played a key role with Tsitsipas to see Greece progress to the Group II play offs next March.

He teamed up with Tsitispas to win a tight three-set doubles match against the experienced Polish duo of Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski.

It was the first time both Greek players had played in Davis Cup competition.

“I am really proud of him. He’s a really nice kid,” said Tsitsipas, aged 21, of his older team mate. “I really feel him, like his calmness, his psychological balance when he’s on the court, it’s very, very inspiring, even though he’s not yet in the top 100, I feel I can learn a lot from him and get as much as I can from him because he’s something different from what you see regularly on the tour.”

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Pervolarakis turned professional about a year ago, soon after finishing his college tennis career at the University of Portland. He is based near Seattle where he lives with his wife, Amelia. They are expecting their first child.

Last year, he qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in singles and is only the second player from his university to have achieved this. Pervolarakis considers the college tennis route a good option for aspiring Greek players.

“A lot of kids when they are 18, they are not sure what they want to do and college tennis provides a great environment. Even if you ant to make it as a professional tennis player, at the same time you have a degree as a second option.”

“It’s not too late. I started played professionally when I was 22. I am 23 now and it’s not too late. I mean the top 100 average age is pretty high, 27. So there is plenty of time, even if you go to college.”

Pervolarakis is currently ranked 462nd in the world and is looking for a coach who will help him to rise in the rankings.

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Of Tsitsipas, Pervolarakis said he enjoyed the experience of getting to know and play with the world number 7.

“He’s a great person. I would consider him my friend already, even though I’ve known him for seven or 10 days. He’s very nice to talk to.

And he’s a great tennis player to practice with.

“The team we have created I think will help everyone on every single dimension,” said Pervolarakis

For Tsitsipas the Davis Cup experience was reinvigorating, coming asit did after a four-match losing streak starting his semi-final loss to Nick Kyrgios in Washington. He said he was able to reset his mindset, flying the flag for Greece and guiding the team to third place in the group.

“I played a lot of matches, that’s good for me. The level of tennis was not the highest that I am used to playing, but definitely psychologically I think it helps and I can leave from here with good memories in the back of my head and good moments that I shared with the team.”

While “Stef Mania” was in full swing swing during the Davis Cup week, Tsitsipas said the crowd helped to lift him on many occasions.

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“I don’t want to over exaggerate, but I feel like the crowd is playing for me. And this is a big thing, it doesn’t happen often. And now that I’ve discovered Davis Cup for the very first time, I might want to play it more often,” said Tsitsipas who is keen to maintain the momentum into the new year.

“Now that we put so much effort to get to the play-offs, it’s important to keep it going. I don’t want to leave it on the side and not pay attention to it. Because I care for my country, I care about the team and I think we have chances to progress even more.”