Parts of the crowd at Pala Alpitour, where Tre Kronor won Olympic gold in 2006, booed when the Greek gave up.
– I apologize to all the fans who came to see the match. It feels terrible not being able to finish it, says Tsitsipas at the subsequent press conference.
Tsitsipas played his fifth straight ATP finals, losing to home favorite Jannik Sinner 6-4,6-4 in the first round.
“I feel shame”
He has been sidelined with back injury problems for some time but was given the go-ahead by doctors to play, which he was self-critical about.
– I feel ashamed that I did not give the place to someone else who could have done something better with it, says Tsitsipas.
– I have played in pain during matches before but this was too much to handle.
Replaced by Hurkacz
Rune had a short day at work.
– Already in the first game you could see that he couldn’t serve even close to what he has the capacity for, says Rune in the interview on the court in Eurosport’s broadcast.
Tsitsipas is replaced by Hubert Hurkacz in the final group stage match against Novak Djokovic on Thursday.