Taylor Fritz endured a very frustrating start to his 2026 season, losing his United Cup tie with Sebastian Baez.
Bad serving really cost Fritz against Baez, who won their clash 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 after two hours and 33 minutes.
But the American’s teammate Coco Gauff got the USA back on track against Argentina at the United Cup.
She beat Solana Sierra to level the tie, before partnering with Christian Harrison to beat Maria Lourdes Carle and Guido Andreozzi.
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Taylor Fritz may need to make difficult decision to miss Australian Open
But much more worrying for Fritz than his loss was his knee trouble against Baez, which evidently played a part in his defeat.
The ATP ace has admitted he needs time to recover from his knee injury, but at the same time doesn’t want to miss Grand Slams.
Fritz said of the issue: “I still have pretty serious tendonitis, and that’s something that takes a really long time to get rid of.”
It would be an extremely difficult decision, but perhaps skipping the Australian Open would be a wise move for Fritz.
It certainly may be worth taking a brief pause at this stage of the season, especially given that he only played three sets at the United Cup, whereas the Australian Open could often require five.
He will, of course, leave such a decision to the very last minute, but it is one that may unfortunately be imposed upon him.
Fortunately, however, the injury didn’t stop him from playing in the USA’s second United Cup match against Spain, in which Fritz beat Jaume Munar.
But at a mammoth three hours and 13 minutes, it was another very lengthy encounter that may just have done him more bad than good.
He even required a seven-minute medical timeout in the thriller in Perth, although that was because of a bloodied toe.
Now is the ideal time for injury-hit Taylor Fritz to take a break
It’s certainly on a smaller scale than Fritz’s potential predicament, but there is somewhat of a similarity to WTA star Emma Raducanu.
Raducanu withdrew from her United Cup opener against Naomi Osaka, and was replaced by Katie Swan for Great Britain.
Swan lost to Osaka as a frustrated Raducanu missed out, but it was definitely the right decision not to play through injury.
Which country do you think will win the United Cup?
Aggravating a problem is never a sensible decision, but doing so at the very start of the season is much worse.
Fritz would be devastated to miss the Australian Open, particularly with his and America’s search for a men’s Grand Slam champion continuing.
But if he isn’t 100% fit, risking injury to play and potentially suffer an early exit will simply delay his progress and likely rule him out of many more events.
And now is a better time than most to take a break, with Fritz able to simply return to his offseason mode and enjoy further rest and recovery.
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