"I could not walk for two days. That's when you reconsider the future of your career" - Tsitsipas considered retirement from tennis after persistent injury issues

After a dreadful 2025 campaign, Stefanos Tsitsipas stated that he considered retiring from the sport due to a lack of form on court aided by a painful back injury plaguing him throughout the year.

The Greek tennis player has been a firm fixture in the pinnacle of tennis, reaching a career-high of third in the world back in 2021. He continuously challenged in the biggest competitions in the world, reaching two Grand Slam finals. The first one came in the 2021 French Open where he spurned a two-set lead against Novak Djokovic in a painful turn of events.

The second one was the 2023 Australian Open, which was a more resounding win for Djokovic. He has also reached four major semi-finals on top of the finals, won three Masters 1000 titles - all coming in the Monte-Carlo Masters, and on debut won the ATP Finals title in 2019. Between 2019 and 2023, he either finished the year fourth or sixth in the world, a show of his incredible consistency.

However, the form would not continue. Now, he is languishing down in 36th in the world after a woeful couple of years. Especially 2025 where he continued to slide after early exits plagued his year. He won just two Grand Slam matches while winning just one title, which in fairness was the ATP 500 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. The last few months of 2025 saw him miss out on a number of tournaments, including the Hellenic Championship. He is hoping that his back is uch better for the start to the 2026 campaign.

"I'm most excited to see how my actual training responds with regard to my back," Tsitsipas said. "My biggest concern was if I could finish a match," added Tsitsipas, who said the injury had haunted him "for the last six or eight months."

These injury woes even forced him to question whether to march on. "I would ask, 'Can I play another match without pain?' I got really scared after the US Open loss [to Germany's Daniel Altmaier]. I could not walk for two days. That's when you reconsider the future of your career."

Tsitsipas has been working hard to get into the perfect shape for a much more positive 2026 season. "My biggest win for 2026 would be to not have to worry about finishing matches," he said. "It makes great feedback knowing you had a pre-season without pain - I hope it stays that way. I want to deliver for 2026 and the United Cup. I put in the work. The most important thing is full belief that I can come back to where I was. I will try everything to do that."

He is set to begin the year competing for Greece in the Unted Cup, lasting from January 2-11. He face of against Japan's Shintaro Mochizuki and Great Britain's Billy Harris in the group phase, with him teamed up with Maria Sakkari.

He will then turn his full attention to the Australian Open. It is a tournament that he has enjoyed in the past, making four semi-finals between 2019 and 2023. However, a first round exit in 2025 shows off his downturn in form. He will be targeting a rejuvenated showing in Melbourne but will have to do it not seeded for the first time since the 2018 US Open. It will take place from January 18 - February 1.