Stefanos Tsitsipas has issued an apology to the fans at the ATP Finals after he was forced to retire injured just 17 minutes into his round-robin match against Holger Rune. The world No 6 revealed that he had been given the green light to play from doctors but felt something during the warm-up. Tsitsipas was booed by the crowd when he forfeited the match, and he has since pulled out of the tournament altogether.
Tsitsipas’ ATP Finals campaign ended in disappointment on Tuesday as he had to retire while 1-2 down against Rune. There had been speculation that the 25-year-old was injured ahead of the tournament but he successfully took to the court on Sunday, losing 6-4 6-4 to Jannik Sinner and later shutting down the rumours.
This time, the pain was too much to handle for the 2019 ATP Finals champion as he made the difficult decision to stop entirely. But the fans weren’t happy, booing and whistling as Tsitsipas shook hands with Rune and the umpire. Tsitsipas has since apologised for retiring, admitting it “killed” him to stop a match.
“My apologies to all the fans and the crowd that came to support me today and watch the match,” the 10-time title winner later said. “I’m really gutted that I wasn’t able to finish the match. It’s a shame also not to give that spot to someone else to at least try and do something with it.”
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Tsitsipas also clarified that he had been under the impression that he was fine to try and play. He continued: “My doctors and the countless visits that I had in last few days suggested that I play, gave me the green light to go and try it for myself, so… Unfortunately, I felt terrible on the court. I did what I could do in the best possible way to be ready and fit for this match, but it didn’t work out for me.
“I hate retiring from matches. I’m not the kind of person that likes leaving mid-match. It kills me not to be able to finish this tournament, the one that I’ve prepped for so long, made sure that I’m completely fit to perform at my best and show my capacities as a player.” Tsitsipas also explained that he had already been playing through pain and struggling with his movement although he was able to play a full match on Sinner on Sunday.
“I practised the last few days,” he explained. “I didn’t spend a lot of time on the court. I had a little bit of trouble with my movement. It’s mainly affected when I move. It’s difficult to compete in the match without having to move. This is tennis. This is not darts. For me, it’s important to be fit and feel good with my back. The pain was very big. I’ve gone through pain during matches in the past, and I endured pain, but this was clearly too much to handle. I had to take the difficult decision to do what I did.”
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And it was too late to pull out of the tournament and let an alternate step in to face Rune, as Tsitsipas was already on the match court when he felt things get worse. He added: “I felt it at the second game of the match.
“I actually felt it in the warm-up with my serve. Warming up on my serve, I felt very irritated and lots of pain hitting me on my back. I kind of knew at that time that I might not be able to go all the way.”
Following his withdrawal from the tournament, first alternate Hubert Hurkacz will step in to play what would have been Tsitsipas’ last round-robin match on Thursday against Novak Djokovic. Because Tsitsipas is technically 0-2 in the group stage, Hurkacz won’t be able to get out of the group and fight for a semi-final spot.
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