{"id":1786641,"date":"2026-02-22T20:15:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1786641"},"modified":"2026-02-22T20:15:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T17:15:51","slug":"stefanos-tsitsipas-gives-important-injury-update-ahead-of-dubai-championships-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1786641","title":{"rendered":"Stefanos Tsitsipas gives important injury update ahead of Dubai Championships defence"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">Stefanos Tsitsipas gives important injury update ahead of Dubai Championships defence<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/oliver-paton\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Oliver Paton                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"22 Feb 2026 8:15 PM\" data-ps-date=\"22 Feb 2026 8:15 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1771791351\"><br \/>\n                            22 Feb 2026 8:15 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/atp-tour\/stefanos-tsitsipas-important-injury-update-ahead-dubai-championships-defence\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to facebook\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Fatp-tour%2Fstefanos-tsitsipas-important-injury-update-ahead-dubai-championships-defence\" 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href=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Fatp-tour%2Fstefanos-tsitsipas-important-injury-update-ahead-dubai-championships-defence\" aria-label=\"Share to flipboard\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"sm:hidden flex items-center space-x-5\">\n                        <a class=\"!text-share-icon hover:!text-share-icon-active flex items-center justify-center\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" aria-label=\"Follow Tennis365 on Google Search\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"Stefanos Tsitsipas gives important injury update ahead of Dubai Championships defence\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Stefanos-Tsitsipas-close-up-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Stefanos Tsitsipas in action\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                Stefanos Tsitsipas looks on                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\">\n<p>Stefanos Tsitsipas has issued an important update about his lingering back issue just days prior to his title defence at the Dubai Championships.<\/p>\n<p>The Greek lifted the title 12 months ago by defeating Lorenzo Sonego, Karen Khachanov, Matteo Berrettini, Tallon Griekspoor, and Felix Auger-Aliassime \u2013 his first event victory for nearly a year.<\/p>\n<p>Tsitsipas has been remarkably consistent in Dubai, having also reached the showpiece match in both 2019 (losing to Roger Federer) and 2020 (losing to Novak Djokovic).<\/p>\n<p>Since lifting the famous trophy, the former world No 3 has struggled to continue his form, looking less than 100% in most of his matches.<\/p>\n<p>After the French Open, the Greek hired former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic as coach, but the partnership ended after four weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Back pain caused him to retire during his first-round match at the London Grand Slam, proving to be the final straw in the relationship.<\/p>\n<p>However, a successful off-season has seemingly worked wonders for the discomfort, with Tsitsipas stating that he \u2018doesn\u2019t think\u2019 about his back anymore.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think of my back anymore, and that\u2019s an amazing thing to see,\u201d said the two-time Grand Slam finalist during an interview with Tennis TV.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWaking up every day and having to think of any back-related issues, it\u2019s fantastic. I could not ask for anything better right now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy health is the number one priority. It\u2019s the most valued thing that I have in my life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI lost the other day in Doha, and of course, I was upset, I was a bit sad, I would have wished to go a bit deeper into the tournament, played a little bit more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I remember reflecting in my room, thinking at least I am healthy. At least I get to play and finish a whole match properly. That was something I was not quite certain of a few months ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo to be able to see myself in a position finishing matches back-to-back, playing tournaments and constantly being able to go the whole way with it, it\u2019s such a refreshing feeling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am blessed, actually. I keep reminding myself that that is a very important, big step for me right now in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Latest Tennis News<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/atp-tour\/stan-wawrinka-chooses-favourite-grand-slam-victory-compares-big-3s-level-alcaraz-sinner\">Stan Wawrinka names favourite Grand Slam victory and weighs Big 3 against Alcaraz &amp; Sinner<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/resilient-jack-draper-names-tournaments-targeting-sets-sights-alcaraz-and-sinner\">\u2018Resilient\u2019 Jack Draper sets sights on Alcaraz &amp; Sinner, reveals his 2 target tournaments<\/a><\/p>\n<p>At the Dubai Championships, Tsitsipas was handed a brutal opening clash against Frenchman Ugo Humbert.<\/p>\n<p>Jack Draper is projected to be his quarter-final opponent, whilst Jakub Mensik and Alexander Bublik are the two seeds elsewhere in their half.<\/p>\n<p>The Greek will need to improve his level from what he has managed to produce so far in 2026, falling in the second round of the Australian Open, as well as not going further than the quarter-finals of both the United Cup and Rotterdam Open.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thing is, I can just focus on my game right now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are no external factors bothering me, getting into my mind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe back was a big one, and as much as I wanted to train and get out on the court, and practice and work hard, I was quite limited for a while in terms of my back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow I feel much more free in terms of setting no boundaries and just going the whole way with it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not having any physical toll on the work that I am putting in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as<span>\u00a0<\/span><a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a><span>\u00a0<\/span>for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stefanos Tsitsipas gives important injury update ahead of Dubai Championships defence Oliver Paton 22 Feb 2026 8:15 PM Stefanos Tsitsipas looks on Stefanos Tsitsipas has issued an important update about his lingering back issue just days prior to his title defence at the Dubai Championships. The Greek lifted the title 12 months ago by defeating [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1786641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1786641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1786641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1786641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1786641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1786641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}