Stefanos Tsitsipas’ 2022 hasn’t gotten off to the start he’d have liked but things could be about to get worse for the World No. 4.
World No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas cannot say with 100 per cent certainty that he will line up at the Australian Open this month, admitting he was “in a lot of pain” in his three set loss to Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman at the ATP Cup on Monday night.
An elbow injury ruled Tsitsipas out of what was supposed to be his first singles match of the year on Saturday but he returned to face Schwartzman two days later at the Sydney team event.
Schwartzman (World No. 13) continued this year’s trend of the lower seed punching up to victory at the ATP Cup, coming back from a set down to ice Tsitsipas 7-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Afterwards, Tsitsipas was critical of his own serve.
“I was not at 100 per cent to serve the serve that I wanted,” said Tsitsipas, whose frustrations got the better of him as the contest wore on.
“I was in a lot of pain.”
Tsitsipas said while he hoped to be fit and firing to take a shot at his first grand slam title in Melbourne, he conceded he had “never been through this before” with injury, so was unable to confirm his attendance at the Australian Open.
Monday night’s loss also consigned the Greek team to its second-straight tie defeat, knocking the side out of finals contention two thirds of the way through the group stage.
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An engrossing first set ended with Schwartzman sending Tsitsipas to a tie-breaker, where the vocal Greek contingent cheered last year’s French Open finalist to victory.
His chatter with team captain and father Apostolos Tsitsipas picked up in the second set, but so too did creases begin to emerge in his game.
He was guilty of two double faults in the second set and committed more unforced errors than his rival (16-9), leading to more than one self-directed tirade.
In and amongst it all were flashes of the prodigious tennis that led Tsitsipas to claim the scalps of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer all before his 21st birthday.
But the plucky Argentinian had all the answers to his questions on Monday night.
He proved particularly capable of biting back when Tsitsipas unleashed his trademark one-handed backhand, leading to several entertaining rallies between the pair.
Schwartzman took his second-set winning momentum into the final set, where he held his nerve on deuce to defeat Tsitsipas for the second time in his career.
The win also ensured Argentina claimed victory in the tie with Greece before the doubles match even began.
Aussie tennis fans witnessed yet another upset in a clash between top seeds on Monday afternoon, as Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut (World No. 19) toppled World No. 8 Casper Ruud of Norway, who enjoyed a stellar 2021.
The Norwegians couldn’t take a single set from Spain in the 3-0 tie whitewash, which ended with a comprehensive victory for Spanish doubles pair Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Pedro Martinez.
That match wasn’t without its controversy. Early in the second set, Davidovich Fokina held his racquet over the net as he attempted to deflect Norway’s return, which is not permitted in tennis.
The move went undetected and Spain claimed the point, apparently to Davidovich Fokina’s amusement.
“That was definitely not legal,” Aussie tennis player Mark Philippoussis said in commentary for Nine.
“I think that’s what he was laughing about; the fact that he put his racquet over the net.
“There was a whole lot of wrong in that one.”
“Oh well, we’ll just draw a veil over that,” added Sam Smith.
At World No. 571, Georgia’s Aleksandre Metreveli was the second-lowest ranked player to take to the court for a singles match during the first three days of Sydney’s ATP Cup.
That didn’t stop him taking a set away from his highly fancied opponent, World No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, who was undefeated across his ATP Cup matches before Monday.
Metreveli himself might’ve been surprised to have claimed the first set in a tie-breaker, but unfortunately the fairytale wasn’t to be.
Hurkacz composed himself to take control of the match and come home with a wet sail, 6-7, 6-3, 6-1.
Georgia has now lost all six of its ATP Cup matches and will hope to turn things around against Greece on Wednesday night.
Georgia and Norway’s losses have meant neither nation can qualify for the finals, which will be contested by the winner of each group from between Friday and Sunday.
Originally published as ATP Cup: Stefanos Tsitsipas loses to Diego Schwartzman in first singles match of year, can’t confirm Australian Open attendance
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