Novak Djokovic set for grudge match as Stefanos Tsitsipas ends season after banking £1.1m

The draw for next week's Hellenic Championship is officially out, and Novak Djokovic could face a familiar foe as he makes his return to competition. But one player is missing - Stefanos Tsitsipas. The world No. 26 had longed for a tour-level event in Greece and he finally got his wish, but he was forced to pull out, bringing his injury-stricken 2025 season to an end.

Tsitsipas has played just one unofficial match since Greece's Davis Cup tie in September, banking £1.1m when he lost to Jannik Sinner at the Six Kings Slam exhibition earlier this month. After withdrawing from his home tournament, the former world No. 3 is at risk of being unseeded at the Australian Open.

Djokovic has also not played since the Six Kings Slam, where he retired after losing a 75-minute set to Taylor Fritz in the third-place playoff. His last tour-level appearance came at the Shanghai Masters, where he appeared to pick up an injury during his semi-final loss to then-world No. 204 Valentin Vacherot.

After retiring from the Six Kings Slam, Djokovic said he had some physical problems that he wanted to address before playing his final tournaments of the season. He withdrew from this week's Paris Masters, but will return next week.

Djokovic is the top seed at the ATP 250 event in Athens, and receives a bye directly into the second round, where he will face either Alejandro Tabilo or Adam Walton. The Serbian superstar will be out for revenge if he takes on Tabilo, as he has a rare 0-2 record against the Chilean.

Tabilo, who is currently ranked at No. 82 in the world, is one of three players to have faced Djokovic at least twice and never lost to him. If he advances, Djokovic could likely face No. 6 seed Nuno Borges in the quarter-finals.

Brandon Nakashima and 'giant killer' Fabian Marozsan are also in his half of the draw. Marozsan has six wins over top-10 players, most notably upsetting Carlos Alcaraz in Rome a few years ago.

World No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti, Luciani Darderi, and Sebastian Korda are in the other half of the draw and would be potential final opponents.

As for Tsitsipas, the Greek star will have to wait to play an ATP Tour event on home soil. The world No. 26 has been plagued by a back injury this year. His last official match came in mid-September, when he blew a 5-3 lead against Joao Fonseca in the third set of their Davis Cup rubber.

Fonseca stormed back to win 6-4 3-6 7-5, and Tsitsipas later explained that his back injury started to bother him exactly when he was serving for the match. He has since withdrawn from the China Open in Beijing, the Shanghai Masters, the ATP 500 in Vienna, and the Paris Masters.

He still played the Six Kings Slam exhibition in Saudi Arabia, but only played one match, losing 6-2 6-3. All players who competed in the three-day exhibition received £1.1m. Sinner bagged an extra £3.4m for lifting the title for the second year running.

After pulling out of the Hellenic Championship, Tsitsipas is expected to drop outside of the world's top 30. It would be his lowest year-end ranking since 2017. If he drops outside of the world's top 32 by November 17, he will be unseeded at the Australian Open in January.