"Thank god, I prefer to live" exclaims Tsitsipas after being forced to withdraw from Wimbledon mixed doubles

Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas has made light of not having to play in Wimbledon’s mixed doubles event following an injury to his girlfriend Paula Badosa.

The 24-year-old was scheduled to feature in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles category in the third Grand Slam of the year.

However, he will not be able to participate in the mixed doubles event after his girlfriend Badosa suffered a back injury while playing in her singles second-round fixture on Friday.

Talking about that after his round of 64 victory, the current world number five joked about the development and further stated that not taking part in the mixed event might help him focus more on the singles competition.

“Mixed is not a thing anymore, thank God,” he said. “I prefer to live (smiling). It never crossed my mind that I would be doing all three in a single event. But I also see it from the bright side.

“You can see it from that side. You like tennis so much, you want to be in these slams for as long as possible. Ideally from the singles draw, you want to be there completing the two-week period the slam allows you to play.

“You like tennis so much, you want to be in these slams for as long as possible. Ideally from the singles draw, you want to be there completing the two-week period the slam allows you to play.”

Tsitsipas booked his place in the third round of Wimbledon 2023 after managing to defeat Britain’s Andy Murray in a five-set thriller with a score of 7-6, 6-7, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 on Friday.

The victory means that the former Australian and French Open finalist is now a victory away from equaling his best singles record while playing at Wimbledon.

Tsitsipas’ best-ever outing while playing in London came back in the 2018 edition where he was knocked out from the fourth round after suffering a defeat against America’s John Isner with a score of 6-4, 7-6, 7-6.