"You get penalized and fined": Tsitsipas was made to play Indian Wells despite not being fully fit due to ATP rule

Stefanos Tsitsipas didn't want to play Indian Wells but he had to in order to avoid fines and penalties which he described as frustrating at the Miami Masters.

Tsitsipas missed some events last month due to a shoulder injury that still wasn't quite right for Indian Wells. It's much better this week and generally, it's trending in the right direction but he wasn't too happy with having to play Indian Wells but ultimately he had no choice. Asked about it, he explained:

"There is a rule in place in ATP that states that if you don’t play any Masters 1000, there are certain penalties such as, they take away your best Masters 1000 performance of last year and you can’t add points to that, which is pretty bad if you think about it."

He continued:

"I couldn't pull out, I had to play. Also, you get penalized and fined on top of that. It’s frustrating to have something like this on top of your injury and having to think about something like this too."

And finished up with:

"So, there were a number of reasons why I decided to play, including the fans in Indian Wells which I really love, and the energy there is spectacular when you step out on the court."