Tsitsipas retires through back injury, handing Rune first victory of ATP Finals
Tsitsipas will be replaced by Hubert Hurkacz, who will play Novak Djokovic in his lone group match on Thursday
Chryslène Caillaud / Panoramic
Holger Rune picked up his first win of the ATP Finals after Stefanos Tsitsipas withdrew because of a back injury early in their round-robin match on Tuesday.
The Dane led 2-1 in the first set of their Green Group encounter but after a brief discussion with the trainer, during which he was having his right arm manipulated, Tsitsipas informed Rune that he would not be able to continue.
“I’m really gutted that I wasn’t able to finish the match,” Tsitsipas told reporters.
“My doctors and the countless visits that I had in last few days suggested that I play, gave me the green light to go and try it for myself, so…unfortunately, I felt terrible on the court. I did what I could do in the best possible way to be ready and fit for this match, but it didn’t work out for me.
“I didn’t spend a lot of time on the court (in the past few days). I had a little bit of trouble with my movement. It’s mainly affected when I move. It’s difficult to compete in the match without having to move. This is tennis. This is not darts.”
Tsitsipas said the pain was simply too much to cope with.
“I felt it at the second game of the match,” he said. “I actually felt it in the warm-up with my serve. Warming up on my serve, I felt very irritated and lots of pain hitting me on my back. I kind of knew at that time that I might not be able to go all the way.”
The Greek had suggested he was OK after his first match against Jannik Sinner but he looked uncomfortable from as soon as the first game of his match with Rune.
Rune moves on to 1-1, having lost his first match to world No 1 Novak Djokovic.
Tsitsipas will be replaced by Hubert Hurkacz, who will play Djokovic in the Italian’s final group match on Thursday.
