Taylor Fritz admits he isn’t as fit as he would like to be after losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open to Lorenzo Musetti.
Fritz, who was seeded ninth in the draw, fell 6-2, 7-5, 6-4, to his Italian rival. A player who is ranked four places higher than him at fifth in the world. During his latest match, the American hit fewer winners (23-33) and produced 34 unforced errors. Furthermore, he was broken five times.
Throughout this year’s tournament, Fritz has spoken openly about his ongoing recovery from knee tendonitis in recent months. A condition that can cause pain, swelling, and stiffness in the tendon connecting the kneecap to the shinbone. Despite this, he has been able to manage the issue and continue playing on the Tour. Even though there are still issues facing him.
“I was so happy with how I was feeling throughout the first two rounds and then I came in after the match with Stan (Wawrinka) and it wasn’t feeling great against, especially towards the end of the match.” Fritz told reporters on Monday.
“Today I was feeling it from the get-go. I felt good in my warmup. Then when I went to do my pre-match stuff, like moving around and stuff before the match, I just I told my physio my knee just doesn’t feel great.
“I was hoping it would loosen up. It didn’t get worse but it kind of just stayed the same the entire match.”
To add to Fritz’s woes, he also has to contend with a separate physical issue that was causing him discomfort. However, he stats that no credit should be taken away from Musetti’s performance, who the American said served and neutralized his shots ‘really well.’
“My oblique. We tried taping it because I felt like in the first round it wasn’t that big of an issue. In the second round maybe a little bit more.” He said of his other ailment.
“Then in the match with Stan my oblique was actually killing me when I was trying to return.
“Before the tournament I did an ultrasound. After the second round I did an ultrasound. Yesterday (Sunday) I did an MRI on it. It’s the exact same thing I had last year that took me out for the beginning of the clay court season and a bit during the hard court season I tried to play through.
“All the scans show that there’s not like an obvious tear there like there was before. But I’m being cautious.
“I don’t think it’s as bad as it was last year, so I think I can recover from it fairly, fairly quickly if I just take some time off.”
It is a frustrating situation for Fritz, who admits he wasn’t able to do enough training as he would have liked during the off-season. However, his current plan is to keep plucking away on the Tour in hope that he will physically improve quickly. His next event is the Dallas Open, which starts on February 9th.
“My main focus is to just get 100% healthy, which I’m hoping it’s not too far away, and just to be on top of everything so I can train and, like, really just practice and train like I am used to.” Fritz concluded.
