Stefanos Tsitsipas Seriously Considered Walking Away During Injury-Plagued Campaign

Stefanos Tsitsipas has revealed he thought about ending his career because of severe spinal pain during the 2025 tennis year.

At 27 years old, the player once ranked as high as third globally, was a finalist to Novak Djokovic at both the 2021 French Open alongside the 2023 Australian Open.

Now ranked 36th in the world after a limited schedule post a second-round departure in New York this past summer, he stated that ongoing treatment is finally showing positive results.

"I'm most excited is to observe how my body responds during actual training with regard to my back," said Tsitsipas.

"The biggest fear was whether I was able to finish an encounter," the athlete continued, noting the injury plagued him "for the past half a year or more."

"I kept asking, 'Can I compete another contest without discomfort?'"

"I became truly frightened after the defeat at the US Open [to Germany's Daniel Altmaier]. I could not to move for 48 hours. That's when you begin to question your career's future."

Tsitsipas further mentioned being content with the present treatment regimen following the completion of five weeks of off-season preparation completely pain-free.

He is scheduled to compete with the Greek team at the team event, where they face Naomi Osaka's Japan and the Great Britain squad led by Emma Raducanu. The competition will be held across Australian cities from 2 to 11 January, the week preceding the season's first major.

"My main goal next season is to not have concerns about finishing matches," he stated.

"It provides fantastic feedback to know you had an off-season without pain – I wish for it to last. I want to deliver in 2026 and at the United Cup.

"The effort is invested. The crucial element is total belief in my ability to get back to where I was. I will try all means to achieve that."