On Monday, French Open-Finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas (ATP 4) has had to cancel his participation at the 28. NOVENTI OPEN. “Unfortunately, I cannot take part in Halle, after the last two tournament weeks in Paris and the five-set-final yesterday “, the 22-year-old Greek player stated in a message to tournament director Ralf Weber. Moreover, he mentioned personal reasons for his decision.
Tsitsipas regretted his retirement greatly: “I was really looking forward to starting, because it is the perfect preparation for Wimbledon. I wish Ralf Weber and the whole of the tour team a successful tournament.“ Tournament Director Ralf Weber on the cancellation of Tsitsipas: “It’s really sad that Stefanos cannot start. We were really looking forward to him coming, especially after his great performance at the French Open. “ But of course, it goes without saying, “the health of the player goes first”, Weber said. “We wish him a speedy recovery and that he will continue his successful season. Of course we hope for Stefanos to play here next year.“
Tsitsipas had lost the Roland-Garros-Final in spite of meantime leading 2:0 against the worlds‘ No. 1 Novak Djokovic on Sunday. Still, the 22-year-old had climbed the ATP World ranking list to an all-time high of No. 4. Tsitsipas is replaced in the singles by the 29-year-old Yannick Hanfmann (ATP 99) from Karlsruhe / Germany at the 28th NOVENTI OPEN. He will play Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech (ATP 119) in the first round. The Tsitsipas brothers Petros and Stefanos will be replaced by Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer (ATP Double 170) in the Doubles competition.
