In certain team sports, clauses exist in the players’ contracts to prevent them from skiing. Stefanos Tsitsipas was handicapped by another discipline on his way to the first Grand Slam of the season. Coming out of his elimination in the second round of the Australian Open in front of Tomas Machac (6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6), the Greek went so far as to speak of “one of the worst and stupidest injuries” he inflicted on himself before a tournament.
How did he go about scuttling his chances of going far at the Australian Major? “I stupidly injured myself playing football four days before the start of the tournament. My whole team was putting pressure on me not to play, and I am proud to have played, and won my first match,” explained the 27-year-old Athenian to Greek media SDNA.
Tsitsipas still felt that not throwing in the towel before the first round was the “right decision”. If he tamed the Japanese Shintaro Mochizuki when he entered the fray (4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2), the world number 35 did not go much further.
“Never again”
“I scraped my skin making a circle to bring the ball back. The movement was abrupt, and I was shocked, this had never happened to me. I was angry with myself, I couldn’t believe that such a trivial gesture could cause such significant trauma and pain, because I had difficulty walking for two days,” explained the Roland-Garros 2021 finalist.
As he tries to relaunch his career, the former ATP Top 3 now has a new golden rule in his quest to return to the top of the circuit. “I learned my lesson from this: I will never play football again before a competition. »
