Taylor Fritz Regrets Delaying Rehab for Persisting Knee Injury: “Could Have Prevented It From Getting Really Bad”

Taylor Fritz is in Washington, chasing his first title of the season at the Citi Open. In the first round, the American ace went past Zizou Bergs to schedule his second-round match against Kamil Majchrzak.

Fritz has made three finals this year, losing all. Ben Shelton beat him in Dallas and Stuttgart, while Frances Tiafoe beat him in Halle. Prior to starting his campaign on the North American hardcourt swing, the 28-year-old faced defeat at the hands of eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

Fritz has dealt with the persistent knee tendinitis throughout the 2026 season, and it has stopped him on many occasions from playing to his full potential. He first started feeling signs of the tendinitis earlier in the 2025 season, but he kept ignoring it only to realize later that he had aggravated the injury.

I’d say the only thing would be way earlier on, like 2025 Australia, when I first started feeling like the signs of the tendinitis, maybe just from that moment on, got more just, like, I guess the rehab work and the protocol. I think I let it get too bad before I fully started doing all of the stuff I needed to do to strengthen the tendon and deal with tendinitis.

Fritz at first felt doing the tendon protocol could worsen the injury. But he has realized his mistake.

I played well the majority [of the] second half of the 2025 season, but yeah, if I could go back, I think from the beginning of 2025, I would just start doing all of the tendinitis protocol stuff that I do now, and I probably could have prevented it from getting really, really bad.

Taylor Fritz added

Fritz has never played the final of the Citi Open. Last year, his run was ended by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the quarterfinals.

Taylor Fritz says the Washington balls are the hardest to control on the tour

Taylor Fritz, after his win over Zizou Bergs in the first round of the Citi Open, revealed what he is finding hard about playing in his home tournament. Well, it’s the balls.

I think this ball is always the hardest ball to control that we play on Tour. I always think more people make more unforced errors and mistakes during this time of the year, and I think just kind of finding that rhythm to where I’m comfortable with that rallyball. I’m not going to miss, and also feeling like I can kind of pull the trigger on some neutral balls is what I’m looking for.

Taylor Fritz said at the press conference

After the Washington event, Fritz will be gearing up for the Canadian Open. He produced his best performance there last year by reaching the semifinals, losing in straight sets to eventual champion Ben Shelton.

Apart from Montreal, Fritz’s next destination is Cincinnati. He has made two quarterfinals there, in 2022 and 2023, but last year, he suffered a fourth-round exit. Fritz has so far won one Masters 1000 title, the 2022 Indian Wells, by defeating Rafael Nadal.

World No.3 Carlos Alcaraz, if he plays in Cincinnati, will be aiming to defend his title. Alcaraz has been on the sidelines since the Barcelona Open because of a wrist injury and recently pulled out of the Canadian Open. The seven-time Grand Slam champion received a walkover from World No.1 Jannik Sinner in the final of the Cincinnati event last year.

Following the two Masters 1000s, the tennis world will be focusing on the US Open, where Alcaraz is the reigning champion. He beat defending champion Sinner last year.

Also read: Greg Rusedski Blames Two-Week Masters 1000 Format for Jannik Sinner’s Canadian Open Withdrawal: “He Doesn’t Want to Burn Out Before US Open”