"This is tennis, this is not darts": Stefanos Tsitsipas says it's hard to play tennis not being able to move in response to ATP Finals injury criticism

Stefanos Tsitsipas explained why he withdrew from the match against Holger Rune due to injury at the 2023 ATP Finals.

The Greek tennis player encountered issues in the pre-tournament training, but the speculations were dispelled when he played against Jannik Sinner and fell 6-4, 6-4, showing no signs of physical discomfort during the match. Although he skipped some practices, Tsitsipas did not seem to have physical problems when facing the Italian.

However, in his second match, this time against Holger Rune, he chose to retire with the score at 2-1 in favor of the Dane in the first set, having spent only three games on the court before his definitive withdrawal.

“I practiced the last few days. I didn't spend a lot of time on the court. I had a little bit of trouble with my movement. It's mainly affected when I move. It's difficult to compete in the match without having to move. This is tennis. This is not darts,” Tsitsipas said.

“For me, it's important to be fit and feel good with my back. The pain was very big. I've gone through pain during matches in the past, and I endured pain, but this was clearly too much to handle. I had to take the difficult decision to do what I did,” former world No. 3 added.

“I felt it at the second game of the match. I actually felt it in the warm-up with my serve. Warming up on my serve, I felt very irritated and lots of pain hitting me on my back. I kind of knew at that time that I might not be able to go all the way,” Tsitsipas concluded.

After his withdrawal from the tournament, Tsitsipas considers his 2023 season concluded, and Hubert Hurkacz will enter as an alternate to replace him in the competition. The Polish player will only be able to participate in one round-robin match against Novak Djokovic, so he does not have the possibility to advance to the semifinals.