Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Daniil Medvedev & others discuss the dishes that spark their childhood memories

Given that tennis professionals cannot afford to be too choosy with regard to choice of cuisines due to their constant traveling, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, and Daniil Medvedev chose to pick one dish each that sparked childhood memories in them.

Casper Ruud, Holger Rune, Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz and Felix Auger-Aliassime also revealed which food items reminded them of their younger days as part of a Q&A session on the sidelines of the 2023 Italian Open.

While Tsitsipas instantly declared that octopus with vinaigrette sauce was the one food item that transported him back in time, Medvedev took a while to translate cutlet from Russian before going on to specify that he has an affinity for chicken cutlets with potato puree.

Stefanos Tsitsipas proceeded to give an elaborate description of how he liked his octopus prepared, stressing that it had to be fresh and "not too cooked."

"It is vinaigrette octopus. The octopus has to be fresh and not too much cooked. A little bit squeaky," said the Greek who failed to get the past the quarterfinal stage in Madrid.

Californian Taylor Fritz unsurprisingly chose the In-N-Out Burger which reminded him of his home state.

While in Rome, Italian food found mention as well, with both Holger Rune (who chose pasta bolognaise) and Felix-Auger Aliassime (who chose lasagne but stated he did not eat it pre-training) chiming in with their own takes.

The one player whose response stood out strikingly from the rest was Andrey Rublev who revealed that Coke was what he indulged on at the dinner table while missing out on food.

"Like when they gave me coca-cola, I had to drink only cola, so no food on the table. So, it was like my mum, and me and cola."

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev hoping to come good at the Italian Open

Both Rublev and Tsitsipas have made their mark this season

Stefanos Tsitsipas will be hoping to come good in Rome after having reached the final of the Barcelona Open recently, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the final.

The 2023 Australian Open runner-up has had mixed fortunes this season after a promising start at the Melbourne Grand Slam, where he made it to the final only to go down to Novak Djokovic.

Following early exits in Indian Wells and Miami, the Athens-born player advanced to the quarterfinals in Monte-Carlo, where he was defeated by Taylor Fritz. Most recently in Madrid, he fell in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up Jan-Lennard Struff.

Meanwhile, Andrey Rublev who reigned supreme in Monte-Carlo in April, carried the winning momentun into Srpska before being downed by Dusan Lajovic in the title round.

Compatriot Karen Khachanov proved to be too good for Rublev in the Round of 16 at Madrid but the 25-year-old has made it through to the third round in Rome by getting past Alex Molcan.

Rublev suffered an opening-round exit at the Italian Open last year while Stefanos Tsitsipas lost to top seed Novak Djokovic in the big final.