Stefanos Tsitsipas sparked concern when he went down injured during his match against Tomas Machac. The No. 31 seed had just lost the third set to go two sets to one down, and was broken at the beginning of the fourth. As Machac served leading 1-0, Tsitsipas ran into the corner to retrieve a ball, and his face suddenly scrunched up.
The Greek star grabbed his knee and immediately fell to the ground as Machac rushed over to check on his opponent. The physio raced to the court and gave Tsitsipas some quick treatment on the ground, helping him up.
Tsitsipas's coach and father watched on from his box, looking worried. But the 2023 finalist decided to play on, and Machac held for a 2-0 lead. The 31st seed then went to his bench to change his racket and got back in the groove, holding to get on the scoreboard in the fourth set.
The 27-year-old had already taken a medical time out for a foot issue at the beginning of the match. But the shock of his fall wore off, and Tsitsipas broke back to level the score at 2-2 in the fourth set.
Tsitsipas may be the higher-ranked player, but Machac is full of form and came into their second-round contest on a six-match winning streak after lifting the trophy in Adelaide last week and then beating Grigor Dimitrov in round one.
Meanwhile, the Greek ace is still finding his feet after returning from a three-month injury layoff. A back injury derailed Tsitsipas' 2025 season, and his last official match of the year came in September during Greece's Davis Cup tie against Brazil, where he lost to Joao Fonseca.
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Tsitsipas played and lost one exhibition match at the Six Kings Slam a few weeks later, but otherwise did not compete again until the beginning of this year. He returned to action at the United Cup, beating Shintaro Mochizuki, Billy Harris, and Taylor Fritz before Greece were eliminated from the team competition.
When he made his comeback in Perth a few weeks ago, Tsitsipas revealed that he had considered retiring last year. "When you see yourself unhealthy and in such a dark, bad state constantly, and not just a week or two, a lot of things cross your mind. A lot of your future flashes in front of you of how you see yourself in a couple of months from now. These things did occur," he said.
"There were phases during the year where I was asking myself, why am I doing this, and why am I putting myself through so much pain? Pain is not an enjoyable thing when you're an athlete and especially when it keeps coming back and reverting constantly."
The former world No. 3 has been largely pain-free since returning to competition. He earned another win over Mochizuki in round one here and hoped to reach the third round of a Major for the first time since the 2024 French Open. But Machac took the fourth set in a tiebreak to seal a 6-4 3-6 7-6(5) 7-6(5) victory, eliminating the former finalist here.
