Stefanos Tsitsipas deserves the same fame as Carlos Alcaraz & Jannik Sinner, claims Greek's United Cup teammate

Maria Sakkari has vociferously backed Stefanos Tsitsipas to rediscover his finest form in 2026 and join Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the summit of the ATP Tour's singles rankings. Tsitsipas, a former World No. 3, currently finds himself languishing outside the top 30 after a disappointing couple of seasons due to form and injury woes.

Right now, both Sakkari and Tsitsipas are in Perth, Australia to represent Greece at the 2026 United Cup. Ahead of the international mixed team tennis event, the players interacted with reporters at a press conference. Here, they were asked about their thoughts on potentially breaking back into the ATP and WTA top 10 respectively in 2026.

The former WTA No. 3, currently ranked just outside the top 50, took charge of answering the question. Expressing confidence for both herself and compatriot Stefanos Tsitsipas, Maria Sakkari said:

"I'm very, very confident for both of us."

The 30-year-old went on to speak highly of Tsitsipas, a 12-time career singles titlist and a two-time Major finalist. According to Sakkari, her compatriot 'deserves' to be in the same conversation as the current ATP top two of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

"If I'm being deadly honest, I feel like Stefanos is one of the best players I've ever seen in my life. He deserves to be up there with Jannik and Carlos. I feel like now that he's healthy, he has a great chance to come back. I have full belief in him," Sakkari added.

"Pain is not an enjoyable thing when you're an athlete" - Stefanos Tsitsipas on playing through persistent back problems in 2025

Stefanos Tsitsipas practices ahead of the 2026 United Cup (Source: Getty)

Stefanos Tsitsipas' utterly forgettable 2025 season didn't just boil down to the Greek's inconsistent form. It also had to do with the fact that for the vast majority of the year, he played despite experiencing a persistent back issue.

In the same United Cup press conference, Tsitsipas touched on how his chronic back injury made him contemplate about retiring from tennis during the 2025 season, saying:

"There were phases during the year where I was asking myself, why am I doing this, and why am I putting myself through so much pain? Pain is not an enjoyable thing when you're an athlete and especially when it keeps coming back and reverting constantly."

Tsitsipas, Sakkari and the rest of the Greek contingent at Perth are set to begin their 2026 United Cup campaign in Group E, which also consists of Japan and Great Britain.

Edited by Sudipto Pati