"I'm truly relieved that I'm able to feel normal again after years and years of suffering" - Stefanos Tsitsipas on his elbow injury

Stefanos Tsitsipas has expressed his relief at being able to "feel normal again" after "years of suffering" with an elbow injury. The Greek underwent surgery on his right elbow in November after pulling out of the 2021 ATP Finals following a defeat to Andrey Rublev in Turin.

The 23-year-old withdrew from his singles match on the opening day of the 2022 ATP Cup. He played in the doubles match which Greece won against Poland, but were unable to finally win the tie.

The World No. 4 pulled out of his scheduled clash with top-ranked Pole Hubert Hurkacz in Sydney. After Kamil Majchrzak defeated Michail Pervolarakis, Hurkacz saw off Tsitsipas' replacement -- World No. 1076 Aristotelis Thanos -- to seal victory for Poland.

Tsitsipas then paired up with Pervolarakis to defeat Hurkacz and Jan Zielinski in a dead-rubber doubles contest to earn a point for Greece.

In a press conference, Tsitsipas discussed how the injury had caused him pain for a long period, while insisting his decision to skip his singles match was precautionary.

"I'm truly relieved that I'm able to feel normal again after years and years of suffering," said Tsitsipas. "The concern was kind of something that I expected, but it's not serious. I'm just trying to protect it. I've been using some muscles that I haven't been able to use before and it takes a little bit of time to get into the rhythm and get to the level I want to."

The 23-year-old then declared he sees no value in competing unless he can be at his best, and explained he would rather give a teammate the opportunity to play.

"If I'm not able to perform at 100%, for me there's no reason for me to go out there and play," Tsitsipas continued. "I might as well just give a chance to someone like Aristotelis Thanos, who is really willing to try his strengths against a top player like Hubert."

"It kind of hurts because I do want the best for the team" - Stefanos Tsitsipas

Stefanos Tsitsipas with his father Apostolos Tsitsipas (R) at the 2021 ATP Cup

Stefanos Tsitsipas admitted choosing not to play his singles match was difficult after Greece's ATP Cup defeat, but asserted he feels it was the right decision.

"I don't regret any of my decisions, there was a lot of thought behind it," Tsitsipas said. "You know, it kind of hurts because I do want the best for the team. I'm not thinking only - I'm not playing as an individual. I see that as a team effort, I would love to go out there on court today and play my best tennis, but I decided to take it a bit easier with the doubles."

Greece will face Argentina on 3 January in their second tie in Group D, before concluding their group-stage campaign against Georgia on 5 January. Argentina cruised past Georgia 3-0 in the other Group D tie played on the opening day of the tournament.