ATP Tour

'Fragile' Tsitsipas 'absolutely left with no answers' after Wimbledon retirement

Stefanos Tsitsipas was forced to retire during his Wimbledon opener on Monday due to a back injury, with French qualifier Valentin Royer advancing to the second round on his debut at The Championships.

Royer led 6-3, 6-2 against the Greek, who received a medical timeout in the second set due to a back issue. The former World No. 3 Tsitsipas looked in discomfort at times during the 74 minutes on court and struggled with his movement and serve, making just 43 per cent of his first deliveries. Last week, Jannik Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill stated that the Greek had struggled with his back when practising with the Italian.

“It's tough to describe. I'm battling many wars these days,” Tsitsipas said following his retirement. “It's really painful to see myself in a situation like this. One thing that I absolutely hate doing is retiring or stopping a match, but I've never pictured myself being in a situation like this multiple times since the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin a couple of years back.

“Since that time, I've been very fragile with my body, and I've been battling a war of feeling healthy and feeling comfortable going to the extremes, which has been a difficult battle. So I really don't know. I feel like I'm left without answers. I don't know. I've tried everything. I've done an incredible job with my fitness. I've done an incredible job with my physiotherapy, so I've maximised on everything that I possibly can do. Right now I'm just absolutely left with no answers. I don't know what to do.”

Tsitsipas, coached by former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, leaves SW19 holding a 19-13 record on the season. The 26-year-old is the second men's seed to fall on Day 1, joining Daniil Medvedev.

Tsitsipas is currently 22nd in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, having failed to advance beyond the third round in any of his previous five events. The Greek is a former champion at the Nitto ATP Finals, competing at the prestigious year-end event on five consecutive occasions from 2019 to 2023. Tsitsipas' best result this year came in Dubai, where he lifted his 12th tour-level trophy.

“It's probably the most difficult situation that I've ever been faced with, because it's an ongoing issue that doesn't seem to be disappearing or fading off as much,” Tsitsipas added on his back issues. “Myself, as a person, I have a limit at some point, so I'll definitely have to have my final answer on whether I want to do stuff or not in the next couple of months.

“This is going to be hard, but if I see it going in that trajectory, there is no point at competing. If I'm not healthy, and I've talked about health so many times, if health is not there, then your whole tennis life becomes miserable.”

Royer was competing in just his second main-draw match at a major, having lost in the opening round at Roland Garros last month. The Frenchman, currently No. 99 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, fired 22 winners across the two sets against Tsitsipas and will next meet countryman Adrian Mannarino.