"Feeling better and heading towards the right direction" - Stefanos Tsitsipas updates status of shoulder injury ahead of Miami Open 2023
Stefanos Tsitsipas opened up about the current state of his shoulder injury ahead of his opening match at the 2023 Miami Open. He picked up the injury while competing at the Australian Open in January.
The World No. 3 registered his best ever finish at the Grand Slam with a final-round exit against Novak Djokovic. However, he picked up a shoulder injury along the way, which forced him to pull out of the 2023 Mexican Open in Acapulco.
Stefanos Tsitsipas returned to compete in the Indian Wells Masters. However, the Greek openly expressed low expectations for himself in both Indian Wells and Miami due to lingering injury concerns.
"I am still in recovery and I won’t be pretending … that I have chances of doing well in these next two tournaments, because that would be wrong. I haven’t said it a lot of times in my career but I don’t think I will be capable of going deep," Tsitsipas said at the time.
His words rang true as he was ousted from Indian Wells in the second round by Jordan Thompson.
Stefanos Tsitsipas has displayed a more confident persona ahead of his opening match at the 2023 Miami Open. In a recent interview for Tennis TV, he stated that be has been working hard to improve his physical condition and is currently feeling better. Despite struggling in some training sessions, he remains confident of making moves in the right direction.
"I have put a lot of work to get better and I am feeling better. I am heading towards the right direction. It's a relief to be feeling this way because I have been struggling a lot the last few days hitting so, you know, yesterday was a good practice and I had good feedback," he said.
He expressed his desire to be close to his best in the coming days, but if not, he took satisfaction in the knowledge that he did everything he could to prepare for the tournament.
So I hope by Friday or Saturday I'm ready to be close to a 100% but if not in the back of my mind I know I did the best I could to be ready for this tournament," he said.
Stef on his shoulder https://t.co/5YotRE9II1
How did Stefanos Tsitsipas fare at Miami Open 2022?
Following a second-round exit from the 2022 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Stefanos Tsitsipas had a better showing at the Miami Open. He overcame a tough challenge from J.J. Wolf in his opening match of the tournament. He had a relatively easy encounter against Alex de Minaur in the third round, winning 6-4, 6-3.
In the fourth round, the World No. 3 took on eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz. The Greek was only able to convert one of his eight break point opportunities during the match, eventually losing in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.
Stefanos Tsitsipas will take on the winner of the match between Richard Gasquet and Chris O'Connell in his opening match at the 2023 Miami Open.