Stefanos Tsitsipas is soon set to begin his 2023 Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open campaign, but he doesn't have any big expectations ahead of the first ATP 1000 event of the season.
Before flying to Indian Wells, the Greek player competed in Rotterdam, where he lost to Jannik Sinner in the second round, before withdrawing from the 2023 Mexican Open in Acapulco.
Now, Tsitsipas is ready to compete in Indian Wells despite not being fully fit, as he revealed before the tournament started.
"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. The main priority is getting my body ready and fixed for the clay court swing."
After saying that he wasn't 100% physically ready, the Greek was asked the obvious question: why does he want to compete in Indian Wells and Miami if he isn't ready to do so?
Since the Sunshine Double holds major importance and prestige in the ATP calendar, Tsitsipas' answer was clear, as he didn't want to skip two back-to-back ATP Masters 1000 evens.
"I made a deal with myself that I will not be skipping the next two events."
Tsitsipas, who will be soon defending his title in Monte Carlo, spoke about how important it is to stay healthy throughout the career. That's also why the Greek would like to address the injury correctly to make sure it doesn't worsen in the future.
"I need to take my time and have the right medical team by my side to help me recover to the fullest and not have complications like this in the future."
"When you are dealing with situations like this, the only thing you wish to yourself is to have a career that's healthy, where you can go out on the court and give it your all without any repercussions."
Tsitsipas also reminded that the likes of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who beat him in the recent Australian Open final with a hamstring injury, competed and succeeded with injuries before.
"We've seen it with some champions like Rafa Nadal who have been struggling with injuries for a long time but are still able to play at a pretty good level."
The second-seeded Tsitsipas will start in the second round of the tournament against Jordan Thompson as the Australian defeated Gael Monfils, who was coming back after a seven-month layoff.