Tsitsipas 'hit by karma' in Australian Open exit

Stefanos Tsitsipas believes his first-round exit at the Australian Open was "karma" for withdrawing from the men's doubles with his brother to focus on his singles campaign. The 2023 Melbourne runner-up lost to American player Alex Michelsen 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 on the second day of the tournament.

As the 11th seed, Tsitsipas had originally planned to partner with his brother Petros in the men's doubles, but withdrew before the start of the tournament to protect his singles chances. Tsitsipas stated, "It’s ironic, really. The whole idea was to go as far as possible. I knew the first thing to take care of was not playing doubles. The whole purpose was to save some energy and hopefully be in better shape later on in the tournament."

"I guess that’s karma. I wasn’t able to deliver the level I was hoping for in this tournament," Tsitsipas added. He has long been considered a strong contender for future Grand Slam titles, having reached the Melbourne final twice and the French Open final in 2021, losing both times to Novak Djokovic.

However, he also suffered a first-round exit at last year's US Open and a second-round loss at Wimbledon. "The most frustrating part about losing in the first round of a Grand Slam is that you have too much time to recover," Tsitsipas added. "The bad thing is that I’m going to have to hang around here for a while before my next tournament comes around."

Elsewhere at Melbourne Park, world number one Jannik Sinner began his title defense with a 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory over Chilean player Nicolas Jarry. Novak Djokovic will begin his quest for a 25th Grand Slam singles title later on Monday, while Nick Kyrgios will also make his return to the court.