"My elbow is fantastic": Tsitsipas is feeling confident heading into 2022 season 

Stefanos Tsitsipas' 2021 ended with an unfortunate elbow injury that saw him exit the ATP Finals after falling to Andrey Rublev in his round-robin opener. Checking in from the off-season, the Greek is feeling very optimistic after having a successful surgery last month and is confident he will make a strong 2022 debut.

“My elbow is fantastic," Tsitsipas said during an appearance on Greek TV channel ANT1. "I am sure I will be 100% back. The goal is definitely to go even higher. I hope the preparation goes well and that the new year will be three times better than this season."

The world No. 4 believed he would be in decent enough condition to play the prestigious year-end event, but the pain was just too much to bear, forcing to make the tough decision of doing what was best for his safety and well-being.

"I've never retired in a match—it was very painful for me to let the crowd down and not play that match," he said.

The 23-year-old was just one match away from picking up his maiden Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, but the world No. 1 Novak Djokovic erased a two-set deficit to capture his 19th major title. After nearly tasting victory, he will be hungry to lift his first major trophy in 2022.

"Overall I'm happy with where I stand and I think I'm going to have to take an extra step and try and aim for even higher next year," said Tsitsipas.

“That will require new fresh goals and also trying to improve in my regards when it comes to becoming more professional and working to find where the one percent lies, or the five percent where I can benefit from it and I will of course have my team to help me get to that five percent that I'm looking for."