Stefanos Tsitsipas walked off the court in Munich on Wednesday after another first-round defeat that highlighted how far the former world No 3 has drifted from the sport's elite amid injury problems and inconsistent form.
Resuming at 2-2 in the deciding set against Fabian Marozsan after play was suspended on Tuesday due to darkness, the 27-year-old Greek crashed out 3-6 7-6(5) 6-4 in a defeat that will see his ranking slide into the 70s, his lowest in eight years.
Tsitsipas, who decided to play in Munich this year instead of his usual tour stop in Barcelona, knows that the more his ranking slides the tougher his opponents will be in the early stages of tournaments.
"I'm aware that I might need to play good players in earlier rounds at different tournaments this year," he told Tennis TV ahead of the ATP 500 tournament.
"It's not an easy thing to get to play them early, but I also accept the challenge and I accept my current position and state, that these things need to happen in order for me to get back to where I belong."
Tsitsipas showed plenty of potential when he broke through eight years ago but since reaching the finals of the French Open in 2021 and Australian Open in 2023 he has struggled to deliver a sustained run of form.
A niggling back injury derailed the second half of his 2025 campaign and while he began this year saying his goal was just to feel competitive again, his only decent run came in Doha where he reached the quarterfinals.
Questions have been asked about his professionalism, with Goran Ivanisevic, who coached him in 2025, saying after the Greek's first-round exit at Wimbledon last year that he had not seen a more "unprepared player" in his life.
Before Munich, Tsitsipas said he would consider playing more ATP 250 tournaments to regain his rhythm. The Geneva Open is the only tournament at that level ahead of Roland Garros, which begins on 24 May.
"I'm a player that needs matches, I'm a player that needs to play a lot of sets to feel my game better, and this is something I might need to do in the next couple of weeks," he added.
"I'm expecting to play a lot of tournaments, I want to get a lot of tournaments under my belt, but of course be careful where I choose my tournaments and when I get to play."