Stefanos Tsitsipas can’t catch a break. His troubles have escalated from slightly worrying to incredibly alarming. The Greek star has entered a territory he hasn’t found himself in for eight years. His brief run at the 2026 BMW Open in Munich has only worsened his woes.
Stefanos Tsitsipas Drops Out of the Top 75 in Live Rankings
In 2025, Tsitsipas competed at the Barcelona Open, where he reached the quarterfinal. He was ultimately forced to retire at this stage due to a recurring lower back injury. Courtesy of his run, he added 100 points to his ranking tally.
He was defending those points this week at the BMW Open. After four lost finals in Barcelona and no headway, the Greek star tried his luck in Munich this year, drawing Fábián Marozsán in the first round. The same Marozsán who became an overnight sensation after beating Carlos Alcaraz on the clay courts of Rome in 2023.
The pair’s match was dramatic to say the least. Tsitsipas raced to a 6-3 lead in cold conditions, but his opponent kept pace in the second set. In the 12th game, the Greek star squandered a match point, and Marozsán ultimately stole the set in the tiebreak. At 2-2 in the third set, the chair umpire suspended play due to darkness, much to Tsitsipas’ disappointment.
After resuming play on Wednesday, the players held their serves until Tsitsipas came up short in the final game, losing the contest 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. The 27-year-old plunged 11 spots to No. 78 in the live rankings after the defeat.
A Look at Stefanos Tsitsipas’ Crisis
Stefanos Tsitsipas cracked the world’s Top 100 in 2017, aged 19. He experienced a rapid rise the following year, breaking into the top 70 by March. He bagged the World No. 15 position after a stellar run to the final of the Canadian Open. Later that year, the player won the first of his 12 ATP Tour titles in Stockholm.
In 2019, he established himself as a top 10 player, reaching six finals and winning three titles, including his career’s biggest title yet – the ATP Finals. From 2021 to 2023, Tsitsipas stayed between No. 3 and No. 8 in the world rankings and reached two Grand Slam finals – the 2021 French Open and the 2023 Australian Open. He also won two Monte-Carlo Masters (2021, 2022).
At the end of the 2023 season, Tsitsipas was compromised by a lower back injury. He retired from the ATP Finals, citing hindered movement. His decline became evident in 2024 when he crashed out in the fourth round of the Australian Open. He fell out of the top 10 in February but made a brief re-entry after a successful run to his third Monte-Carlo title.
In June 2024, Tsitsipas left the top 10 again. By mid-2025, he dropped below No. 25 and ended the season ranked World No. 36. After failing to defend his title in Dubai in 2026, the Greek star was pushed out of the world’s top 40. Earlier this year, he opened up about his back injury flare-up in 2025.
“My biggest concern was if I could finish a match. I would ask, ‘Can I play another match without pain?’ I got really scared after the US Open loss (in 2025). I could not walk for two days. That’s when you reconsider the future of your career,” he said. “My biggest win for 2026 would be to not have to worry about finishing matches.”
His ranking slide after his latest two defeats to Francisco Cerúndolo in the Monte-Carlo opener and Marozsán in Munich highlights the severity of his crisis. The Greek star has accumulated just 395 points so far this year and stands at No. 51 in the live race to the Finals.
“I’m not frustrated anymore because there’s no pain interrupting my daily training. I wouldn’t say there’s anything significant bothering me right now. In fact, I feel like I’m in the perfect place to keep developing a better game. I’m trying to get back to where I feel I belong. So far, nothing has been bothering me.”
“I’m aware that this year I might have to face big players in earlier rounds at different tournaments. It’s not easy to have to play them so soon. But I also accept the challenge, and I accept my current position, understanding that this is part of the process,” Tsitsipas said in Munich.
Decent runs at the Madrid Open, the Italian Open, and the French Open would be his best chance to find his lost spark. The Greek star has historically underperformed during the grass and North American swings that follow. He is defending 150 total points across the three clay tournaments.
