November 14, (THEWILL) – Stefanos Tsitsipas was forced to retire just three games into his match against Holger Rune, at the Nitto ATP Finals on Tuesday, due to a back injury. Tsitsipas, who appeared troubled by the injury, made the decision to withdraw after calling for a medical timeout while trailing 2-1.
The retirement hands 20-year-old Rune his first ever win at the season-ending tournament in Turin. Rune had lost his opening Green Group match to Novak Djokovic, but now sits at 1-1 in the round robin stage. Meanwhile, Tsitsipas falls to 0-2 after also losing his first match to Andrey Rublev.
With his withdrawal, Tsitsipas’ hopes of advancing out of the group stage are now over. He would likely need to defeat Casper Ruud in his final round robin match to have any chance of finishing in the top two. The Greek’s health will now be closely monitored heading into the 2024 season after the back issue flared up in Turin.
If Tsitsipas is unable to continue in the tournament, first alternate Hubert Hurkacz would take his place in the Green Group. Hurkacz is ranked 9th in the world and would face Rune and Djokovic if called upon.
In the other Green Group match on Tuesday, Djokovic takes on Jannik Sinner. Both players won their opening matches over the weekend, so the winner would take control of the group heading into the final round robin ties. The ATP Finals runs through November 20 in Turin, Italy.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
