Stefanos Tsitsipas has put doubt into his Australian Open participation after a three set loss to Diego Schwartzman at the ATP Cup.
Argentina completed a 3-0 win over Greece with the highlight win coming from Diego Schwartzman who battled past Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7(5) 6-3 6-3.
After not playing his first singles match in the competition, Tsitsipas returned to the singles court for the first time since elbow surgery in the off-season.
The Greek produced a clean first set to claim the opener but couldn’t stop the inspired Argentinian who claimed victory in three sets and 2 hours and 45 minutes.
However it was Tsitsipas’ post match comments that attracted the most attention as he couldn’t guarantee whether he would compete at the Australian Open, “I really don‘t know how I’m going to feel tomorrow,” a concerned Tsitsipas was quoted as saying by Eurosport.
“That was one of the biggest concerns if I was going to play this match today, how the recovery is going to be tomorrow. I finished the doubles [on Saturday] and the next day I couldn’t serve. I was in a lot of pain.
“That is enough [recovery time], I believe. But I haven‘t had [this kind of injury] before, so I don’t know. It’s my first time experiencing something like this.”
Greece are set to play Georgia on Wednesday with Tsitsipas possibly playing Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Meanwhile in other ATP Cup results Poland defeated Georgia 3-0 despite Hubert Hurkacz losing a set to world number 570 Aleksandre Metreveli.
Poland will meet Argentina on Wednesday to see who progresses into the semi-finals.
Spain dominated Norway 3-0 with Roberto Bautista Agut beating Casper Ruud in straight sets while Serbia lost to Chile 2-1.
A win for Spain over Serbia will ensure their progress into the last four while Serbia and Chile could capitalise on their spot should the Serbians win that tie.
Tomorrow’s matches will see Italy take on France while Australia play Russia in Group B.
While in Group C, USA face Germany while Canada look to do better than their opening match when they face Great Britain.
