The Greek tennis star Contemplated Walking Away Amid Pain-Filled 2025 Season
The athlete entered the previous US Open as the 26th seed.
The tennis professional disclosed he thought about ending his career because of debilitating spinal pain during the 2025 tennis year.
The 27-year-old, who has reached a career-high ranking of world number three, finished as runner-up to Novak Djokovic in the finals of the 2021 French Open and the 2023 Australian Open.
Now ranked 36th in the world after a limited schedule since his second-round departure at the US Open this past summer, he stated that ongoing treatment has begun yielding positive results.
"I'm most excited is to observe how my body holds up under regular practice with regard to my injury," said Tsitsipas.
"My primary worry centered on if I could complete a match," the athlete continued, noting the injury plagued him "for the past half a year or more."
"I kept asking, 'Can I compete in another match pain-free?'"
"I became truly frightened after the defeat 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 being content with his current recovery plan after finishing five weeks of pre-season training without any pain.
His next appearance for Greece at the team event, drawn against Team Japan led by Osaka and the British team captained by Raducanu. The tournament will be held in Perth and Sydney from 2 to 11 January, just before the season's first major.
"The greatest victory next season is to stop worrying about finishing matches," he expressed.
"It provides fantastic feedback realizing you completed an off-season in good health – I wish for it to last. I aim to perform during the upcoming season and for 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 achieve that."
