The Greek tennis star Seriously Considered Retirement During Pain-Filled Campaign
Stefanos Tsitsipas was the 26th seed at last year's US Open
Stefanos Tsitsipas has revealed he pondered quitting the sport due to severe spinal pain during the season.
The 27-year-old, who has reached a career-high ranking of world number three, was a finalist to Novak Djokovic at both the 2021 French Open alongside the 2023 Australian Open.
Currently placed as the world's 36th best player after a limited schedule since his early exit in New York in August, he stated that ongoing treatment has begun yielding encouraging progress.
"My greatest anticipation lies in seeing how my body holds up under actual training with regard to my injury," commented Tsitsipas.
"My primary worry was whether I was able to finish an encounter," the athlete continued, explaining the pain plagued him "for the past half a year or more."
"I kept asking, 'Am I able to play in another match without discomfort?'"
"I became truly frightened following the loss at the US Open [to Germany's Daniel Altmaier]. I could not to move for two days. That's when you start reconsidering the path ahead."
Tsitsipas further mentioned satisfaction regarding his current recovery plan after finishing an extended period of pre-season training completely pain-free.
He is scheduled to compete with the Greek team in the United Cup, where they face Naomi Osaka's Japan and the British team captained by Raducanu. The competition takes place in Perth and Sydney from 2 to 11 January, the week preceding the season's first major.
"The greatest victory next season is to stop worrying about finishing matches," he expressed.
"It is incredibly encouraging to know you had an off-season in good health – I wish for it to last. I aim to perform in 2026 and at the United Cup.
"The effort is invested. The most important thing is complete faith in my ability to get back to where I was. I will try all means to make it happen."
