Taylor Fritz’s Wimbledon run came to an end on Wednesday after losing in straight sets to Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals.
Zverev snapped a seven-match losing streak against Fritz, beating him for the first time since 2024, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
The German, who had not made it past the fourth round at the Championships prior to this year, is through to his first Wimbledon semifinal and will take on British wildcard Arthur Fery.
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Fritz has been dealing with knee tendonitis for months, and had managed to stay relatively healthy throughout his run in SW19, but the American was struggling physically in his match with Zverev, having taken a medical timeout during the second set.
Facing the media after his loss, the world number seven revealed he was feeling pain very early in the contest.
Taylor Fritz discusses his knee pain at Wimbledon after loss
“Rest isn’t the way to fix knee tendinitis,” said Fritz in his post-match press conference.
“I mean, it’s not loading it to a certain extent, which obviously is going to be time away from playing, like, really physical tennis matches. That helps.
“It’s not like when I’m home and not playing tournaments, I’m resting. It’s a lot of strengthening, and you want to push it. There’s a certain amount of pain that’s acceptable when you’re trying to strengthen and regrow the tendon.
“That’s what I’ve done. That’s what all my scans since November have shown, is that I am regrowing and strengthening the tendon. In November there was just a hole there.
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“I’m surprised about today, because I thought if I was going to show signs of it flaring up on me, I felt like it would have already happened. I played 9 matches in 11 days between Stuttgart and Halle. I think five or six of those were three-set matches.
“I felt like if it was going to happen, it would have already happened. That’s why I’m just really disappointed, sad today.
“Didn’t even happen three sets into the match. It was like three games, and I was already feeling it. It’s tough to say. It’s just an odd injury. Just because there’s pain doesn’t mean that it’s not a lot better than it was.
“I’ll get another scan, and I’ll see where we’re at. There’s a very high chance that just all the playing has flared it up. If I took a couple days off, it would probably be back to baseline.”
Taylor Fritz looks ahead to the North American hard-court swing
Fritz will now set his sights on the North American hard-court swing, where he has excelled in the past.
A former US Open finalist, Fritz was asked if his injury flare-up would affect his schedule before heading into Flushing Meadows.
“We’ll see,” replied the 28-year-old. “I think the positive thing about playing in Canada and Cincinnati is just the days off in between matches. I think that’s something that’s going to help a lot.
“Obviously I won’t play the week before the Open. That’s what I’ve been doing in the past. Going into the Open, it should be similar to how it felt going into here.
“Like I said, I need to get a scan. At this point I have so many different scans I can compare. Each one has looked better than the last.
“Kind of just see where we’re at. I think if we were on the calendar schedule that we were on last year, then D.C. would be kind of out of the question for me.
“This year it’s like a week backed up. There will be plenty of time for me to rest it, get back on my rehab program, just kind of see how it feels.”
Having made the semifinals at Wimbledon last year and the quarterfinals this time around, Fritz has moved down to 10th in the live ATP rankings.
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