United Cup: Greece star Stefanos Tsitsipas details physical and mental anguish after battling back injury

A raw Stefanos Tsitsipas has spoken about the lengths to which his back injury haunted him throughout 2025, revealing he could not walk after his US Open exit in August and admitting he questioned his future. The former world No.3 and two-time grand slam runner-up watched as his ranking plunged to 36th after a miserable season plagued by a back injury. For the first time since his inaugural year on the ATP tour, the Greek star failed to progress beyond the second round at any of the majors. This included a second round exit at Flushing Meadows in the year’s last major, after which Tsitsipas said he could not walk properly. With a new season comes a chance for a fresh start and ahead of Greece’s opening United Cup tie against Japan at RAC Arena on Friday, Tsitipas said he hoped his back problems were a thing of the past. “The thing I’m most excited about is trying to see my actual training that I’ve been putting in the last couple of weeks, how it responds in regards to my back, because my biggest concern has been, can I actually finish a match?” he said. “That was what was going through my mind the last six to eight months, I was constantly thinking ‘if I win a match, will I be able to come back the next day and play another match without pain? “I got really scared after my US Open loss with my back, because I couldn’t walk for two days.” While the 2023 Australian Open finalist stopped short of saying he considered retiring, he did admit his thoughts strayed to his future throughout last season. “When you see yourself unhealthy and in such a dark, bad state constantly, not just a week or two, a lot of things cross your mind and a lot of your future flashes in front of you, how you see yourself in a couple of months from now,” he said. “There were phases during the year where I was asking myself ‘what am I doing and why am I putting myself through so much pain?’ “Pain is not an enjoyable thing when you’re an athlete, and especially when it keeps coming back and reverting constantly. “At the end, to me it is much more important to be happy and pain free than struggling through the sport of love with pain. I’d just rather put an end to it if it ends up going towards this route then just constantly suffer.” However, Tsitsipas reaffirmed his desire to play for another decade and thankfully, said he had enjoyed a pain-free pre-season and hoped 2026 would be “a year of enlightenment, a year of truth and a year of redemption.” And he was pleased to visit Perth for a third time, expressing his affinity for the City after starting his season with his compatriots out west at last year’s United Cup. “I feel like we can soon be baptized here. We’ve played here plenty of times. Perth seems like it’s becoming part of one of the biggest cities of Greece, little by little,” he said. “I’m really hoping each and every one of our teammates is ready and prepared for war. We’re going big. We are fighters.”