Taylor Fritz said he ‘essentially had a hole’ in his knee tendon towards the end of last year, but his fears that playing on the grass at Wimbledon could aggravate it have lessened.
The American world No.7 has been dealing with knee tendonitis (inflammation or irritation of the tendon) for months, but is still able to continue playing on the Tour. Coming into the Grand Slam, he played two tournaments on the grass in Stuttgart and Halle, reaching the final of both. On Thursday at Wimbledon, he defeated compatriot Patrick Kypson 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 in what was his 11th Tour-level match on the surface since June 14th.
“I thought the grass was going to be harder on it (his knee). It’s held up so well,” Fritz said after moving into the third round.
“I’m waiting to see how it’s going to feel on hard courts when I’m kind of stomping and sliding on it.
“The grass court season last year was kind of where I feel it became more of an issue for me, then it kind of got just worse from there. I did think maybe grass would be really tough on it. Now it’s been feeling so good the last couple of weeks; I’m not so sure.”
It hasn’t been an easy route for Fritz to get to where he is currently with his knee issue. During the early part of the season, he was dealing with severe pain but rejected the idea that he should take some time away to rest. Something that is usually advised to somebody with tendonitis.
“It was really bad after the World Tour Finals last year. I just had like a hole in my tendon essentially.” He explains.
“Even though I was playing from Australia to Miami, I was in a good amount of pain. But the scans I got after that did show that I was regrowing the tendon. That’s what people would tell you with tendinitis, the pain is not always telling you the full story.
“As I was playing, doing the rehab while I was playing, I was still slowly regrowing the tendon and it was working.
“It’s still a work in progress. It feels great to be able to play three-set matches, four-set matches and not ever be thinking about my knee in pain on the court. That’s a huge step forward.”
Fritz is making his 10th main draw appearance at Wimbledon. Last year he achieved his best result by reaching the semi-finals. He was also a quarter-finalist in 2022 and 2024.
He will play Lorenzo Sonego in the next round.
