Holger Rune showed his class as he gave his verdict on Stefanos Tsitsipas’ retirement from their round-robin match at the ATP Finals. The pair faced off in Tuesday’s day session but the world No 6 was forced to stop after just 17 minutes due to injury and he has since withdrawn from the tournament altogether. Tsitsipas faced some criticism for taking to the court injured but Rune shut down suggestions that his opponent should have pulled out before the match.
Tsitsipas’ ATP Finals campaign ended in disappointment when he was forced to retire 1-2 down to Rune in his second round-robin match of the tournament. Ahead of the tournament, there had been rumours that the 25-year-old was injured and could withdraw but he took to the court as usual to face Jannik Sinner on Sunday and was set to do the same on Tuesday.
It quickly became apparent that he wouldn’t be able to continue the match, however, and he called the supervisor before retiring. First alternate Hubert Hurkacz will now take his spot in the group for what would have been his last round-robin match against Novak Djokovic on Thursday but the Pole can’t advance due to Tsitsipas’ 0-2 record.
His quick retirement and the consequences for Hurkacz have led some to criticise Tsitsipas for taking to the court instead of pulling out beforehand. But Rune himself gave a classy response to suggestions that the 10-time title winner shouldn’t have attempted to play and said that none of the players in Turin were “quitters”.
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“We are not in Stefanos’ body. So we cannot comment on what he should have done,” the 20-year-old said in reply to a tweet claiming that Tsitsipas should have withdrawn and allowed Hurkacz to face Rune.
“We are here to fight and win. No one here in the top 8 is a quitter and we will try to the end. If we only thought rationally, we wouldn’t be where we are today.” Rune’s comments come after Tsitsipas apologised for the crowd for forfeiting the match despite being booed on court for his decision.
“My apologies to all the fans and the crowd that came to support me today and watch the match,” the 2019 ATP Finals champion said following his retirement. “I’m really gutted that I wasn’t able to finish the match. It’s a shame also not to give that spot to someone else to at least try and do something with it.”
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Tsitsipas also confirmed that he only felt something during the on-court warm-up, by which time it would have been too late to withdraw and allow Hurkacz to sub in. The world No 6 explained: “The pain was very big. I’ve gone through pain during matches in the past, and I endured pain, but this was clearly too much to handle. I had to take the difficult decision to do what I did.
“I felt it at the second game of the match. I actually felt it in the warm-up with my serve. Warming up on my serve, I felt very irritated and lots of pain hitting me on my back. I kind of knew at that time that I might not be able to go all the way.”
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