Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas is hoping the upcoming season will be his best one yet as he continues his off-season training following surgery.
The world No.4 was forced to end his 2021 campaign early due to an elbow injury which resulted in him retiring from his opening match at the Paris Masters before subsequently pulling out of the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin. A disappointing end to what had been a largely positive year for the 23-year-old who won titles in Monte Carlo and Lyon. At the French Open he became the first player from his country to reach a major final before losing in five sets to Novak Djokovic.
“In Paris the pain was unbearable so I had to quit from that match. I’ve never retired in a match – it was very painful for me to let the crowd down and not play that match,” Tsitsipas told ANT1.
“But, I had to, it was for my safety, my well-being, and I don’t regret doing that. In the last couple of days I have been practising with a little bit of pain but recently I’m feeling much better than when I started, five six days ago.
“It’s heading toward the right direction and I’m doing everything possible to recover from it.”
Despite his recent injury setback, Tsitsipas is hungry to make further inroads on the Tour after declaring that his elbow now feels ‘fantastic.’ Next year he is hoping to once again challenge for the biggest titles in the sport and add to his own collection. So far in his career he has won seven titles which include the 2019 ATP Finals and one Masters event (Monte Carlo this year).
“I am sure I will be 100 per cent back,” he stated.
“The goal is definitely to go even higher. I hope the preparation goes well and that the new year will be three times better than this season.”
Against top 10 opposition, Tsitsipas has won five out of 13 matches played in 2021 which works out as a winning rate of 38.5%. However, he has managed to register wins over Rafael Nadal, Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev.
“Overall I’m happy with where I stand and I think I’m going to have to take an extra step and try and aim for even higher next year,” he reflected.
“That will require new fresh goals and also trying to improve when it comes to becoming more professional and working to find where the one percent lies, or the five percent where I can benefit from it, and I will of course have my team to help me get to that five percent that I’m looking for.”
Tsitsipas is set to return to action at the ATP Cup, where he will be leading Greece in the team tournament once again. The tournament will take place in Sydney between January 1-9.
Note: quotes obtained via Eurosport
