Stefanos Tsitsipas Contemplated Retirement During Injury-Plagued Campaign

A competitive moment for Tsitsipas

Stefanos Tsitsipas was the 26th seed at last year's US Open

The tennis professional disclosed he pondered quitting the sport because of severe spinal pain throughout the 2025 tennis year.

The 27-year-old, who has reached a career-high ranking of world number three, was a finalist against Novak Djokovic at both the 2021 French Open and the 2023 Australian Open.

Now ranked as the world's 36th best player after a limited schedule post a second-round departure in New York in August, he stated continuous medical care has begun yielding encouraging progress.

"I'm most excited is to observe how my training responds during regular practice with regard to my injury," said Tsitsipas.

"My primary worry was whether I could complete a match," the athlete continued, explaining the pain plagued him "over the last half a year or more."

"I would wonder, '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 was unable to walk for 48 hours. That's when you begin to question the path ahead."

He also reported satisfaction regarding his current recovery plan following the completion of five weeks of pre-season training without any pain.

His next appearance with the Greek team at the team event, where they face Naomi Osaka's Japan and the British team led by Emma Raducanu. The tournament will be held across Australian cities in early January, just before the season's first major.

"The greatest victory next season would be to stop worrying about finishing matches," he expressed.

"It is incredibly encouraging realizing you had a pre-season without pain – I hope it continues. I aim to perform during the upcoming season and for the team championship.

"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 achieve that."

Mary Gaines
Mary Gaines

A seasoned gambling analyst with over a decade of experience in casino gaming and slot machine reviews.