Stefanos Tsitsipas was meant to play a highly-anticipated single against Hubert Hurkacz in the ATP Cup. However, the Greek player surprised his fans after deciding not to play anymore giving space to Aristotelis Thanos who lost 6-1 6-2.

The injury

Stefanos Tsitsipas underwent an operation in November on his right elbow after struggling for many months. Recently, he said that he was extremely confident to be hundred percent ready for the Australian summer. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case. Tsitsipas decided not to play in single, but at least he surprised again playing doubles with Michail Pervolarakis (and winning 6-4 5-7 10-8).

Talking about his injury, Stefanos released the following statement:

“The recovery from my elbow surgery in November is on track for Melbourne and today was a precautionary step to make sure I make Melbourne. We will see day by day, match by match until then.”

Later, he added:

“I’m not playing as an individual, and I would have loved to go on court and play the best tennis, but I decided to take it a bit easier playing the doubles. I feel great about everything, my doctor did a great job.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2022

Ranked no.4, the Greek played his last match on the 15^th of November 2021 when he capitulated to Andrey Rublev 6-4 6-4 in the round robin in the Nitto ATP Finals (draw).