Stefanos Tsitsipas has faced significant criticism during this season, often for reasons that appear erroneous Critics argued that the Greek tennis player’s public announcement of his relationship with Paula Badosa during Wimbledon 2023 was seen as a diversion from his primary focus on physical fitness and winning championships.
The 25-year-old star had a challenging performance at the ATP Finals in Turin, winning only one ATP title this season. He suffered losses to Jannik Sinner and withdrew from the match against Holger Rune due to injury.
Andy Murray comes to Tsitsipas’ defense
British and former world no. 1 Andy Murray has defended Stefanos Tsitsipas after Lacoste CEO Thierry Guibert accused the Greek star of “unfair behavior” following his retirement at the 2023 ATP Finals. The Greek star retired in the second round-robin match against Holger Rune in Turin, with the Danish player leading 2-1.
The 25-year-old struggled to play and had to call the ATP physio during the changeover and decided to retire because he could not continue. Stefanos Tsitsipas received boos from the Italian crowd following his retirement and came under fire from tennis pundits and fans for deciding to play the match given his physical condition.
In a post shared on Twitter, Guibert lauded Sinner after his win over Rune, which helped Lacoste ambassador Djokovic advance in Turin while aiming a dig at Tsitsipas. “Hats off to Jannik Sinner for his win tonight. Despite the unfair behavior of Tsitsipas, he showed everyone why he is a future champ and an authentic guy,” wrote Guibert.
Andy Murray responded in a tweet, quoting Guibert’s post, and expressed his bemusement at the Frenchman’s accusation given his role while defending Tsistipas. “Bizarre post from a CEO of a sports brand getting injured is part of the sport and isn’t ‘unfair behavior’”, wrote the 36-year-old Brit.
The Nitto ATP Finals in Turin is the year-ending event for the world’s top eight players in the men’s singles rankings. Stefanos Tsitsipas was the 2019 champion of the event and was drawn into the Green Group along with world no. 1 Novak Djokovic, Holger Rune, and Jannik Sinner. Jannik Sinner finished first in the group with 3-0, while Novak Djokovic took second place with 2-1 and Holger Rune 1-2. Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic are through to the semifinals, and we are looking forward to seeing who finishes top and second in the Red Group.
Jim Courier directs Tsitsipas’ year
Stefanos Tsitsipas fell to a defeat in his opening match to Jannik Sinner 6-4, 6-4. However, when he faced Holger Rune, he struggled with injury and at one time was pushing to the limit to move, so he decided to retire after being down 1-2 in the first set. He lost his chance to advance to the semifinals at that point, and first alternate Hubert Hurkacz took his place.
In an interview with Tennis Channel, Jim Courier said that Stefanos Tsitsipas was a very “thoughtful guy”: “Tsitsipas is a very thoughtful guy, and he is not an overly selfish guy when it comes to it,” Courier said. “He understands the big picture. He wouldn’t want to do that to the tournament, but it’s what happened.”
The former World No. 1 added, “I mean, you’ve got to give it a shot in your heart if you think you can go out there and finish the match. But with the back thing, too, on this really quick, low-bouncing core, it’s very demanding on the body. Your reaction time has to be even quicker, and that just puts your body at peril, as we can see.”
Meanwhile, there is no date for Stefanos Tsitsipas’ return to court, but it is believed that the injury may not be as serious as feared.
