The Greek tennis star Seriously Considered Walking Away Amid Injury-Plagued Campaign
The athlete entered the previous US Open as the 26th seed.
Stefanos Tsitsipas has revealed he pondered ending his career due to debilitating spinal pain throughout the season.
The 27-year-old, who has reached a career-high ranking of world number three, was a finalist 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 post a early exit in New York this past summer, he stated continuous medical care has begun yielding encouraging progress.
"I'm most excited is to observe how my body holds up under actual training with regard to my injury," commented Tsitsipas.
"My primary worry centered on if I could complete a match," he added, noting the injury plagued him "for the past half a year or more."
"I would wonder, 'Can I compete another contest pain-free?'"
"It was genuinely scary following the loss in Flushing Meadows [to Germany's Daniel Altmaier]. I could not to walk for 48 hours. That's when you begin to question your career's future."
He also reported being content with the present treatment regimen after finishing an extended period of off-season preparation without any pain.
He is scheduled to compete for Greece at the team event, drawn against Naomi Osaka's Japan and the Great Britain squad led by Emma Raducanu. The competition takes place in Perth and Sydney from 2 to 11 January, the week preceding the Australian Open.
"My main goal next season would be to stop worrying about finishing matches," he stated.
"It is incredibly encouraging realizing you completed a pre-season in good health – I wish for it to last. I aim to perform during the upcoming season and for the team championship.
"The effort is invested. The most important thing is total belief that I can return to where I was. I will attempt everything to make it happen."
