Follow us on Google Discover Professional tennis is extremely difficult, and for one ATP Tour player, he will be glad to see the back of 2025.
The Asian swing has descended into chaos, especially for the ATP events, with a host of players withdrawing or completely pulling out with injury issues.
There’s an argument that the ATP have been given a wake-up call with a number of stars seeing their bodies fail them at the end of a rigorous year.
Jannik Sinner suffered from cramps during his Shanghai Masters exit, whilst Carlos Alcaraz never made it to Shanghai after getting injured at the Japan Open.
Now, for one player, he must be wondering where to turn next, with Tomas Machac facing a really frustrating period that he needs to overcome.
Photo by Franco Arland/Getty ImagesTomas Machac has retired for the tenth time since 2024 US Open
Machac won’t have many fond memories of 2025, and he must already be looking forward to next year getting underway.
After retiring from a match against the eventual Shanghai Masters champion, Valentin Vacherot, it means that the player has withdrawn injured on 10 occasions since the 2024 US Open.
This year, Machac has failed to make it beyond the third round just twice, winning 23 matches and losing 17.
His best run at either a Grand Slam or a 1000 event came at the US Open and the Miami Open, where he made it through to round four before being knocked out, with injury striking again in Miami.
Clearly, something needs to be done about this, and perhaps Machac would now be wise to take some time and decide what he needs to do to gain more consistency on the tour.
The top five male tennis players with the fewest mid-match retirements
Roger Federer is the top man when it comes to this statistic on the ATP Tour, with the Swiss legend never retiring from a match once.
Remarkably, the star played 1154 matches on the tour without ever withdrawing from one mid-match.
Players who retired from matches the leastTotalRoger Federer0John McEnroe1Andy Murray 4Bjorn Borg5Boris Becker 6
His ability to plough through and carry on regardless of what he was feeling in matches remains unrivalled, and very few come remotely close to him.
Federer won 20 Grand Slam titles across his career, and although Machac isn’t going to get close to that total, something has to give when it comes to his current record.
Machac has to tweak his backroom team
Many players have trusted coaches, and Machac is currently working with Daniel Vacek.
Although his coach might not be responsible for the 10 retirements in just over a year, it does appear clear that some strength and conditioning work wouldn’t go amiss.
Tournaments where Tomas Machac has retired since the 2024 US OpenOpponentDavis Cup – vs SpainCarlos AlcarazDavis Cup – vs AustraliaAlexei PopyrinAlmaty Open Beibit ZhukayevParis MastersArthur RinderknechUnited CupTaylor FritzIndian WellsYosuke WatanukiMiami OpenJakub MensikGeneva OpenCameron NorrieFrench OpenQuentin HalysShanghai MastersValentin Vacherot
Machac is 30th in the world rankings, and the challenge for him at 25 will be to push on towards the top 16 of the world and start getting himself easier draws in bigger tournaments.
Something has to change for the Prague-native, and this statistic is certainly alarming and very concerning from Machac’s perspective.