Taylor Fritz Slams Short Off-Season After Starting 2026 Australian Open Campaign with Injury: “Four Weeks Not Enough to Recover”

Ninth seed Taylor Fritz overcame a scare in his first-round match against Valentin Royer.

Taylor Fritz Slams Short Off-Season After Starting 2026 Australian Open Campaign with Injury: “Four Weeks Not Enough to Recover”

Taylor Fritz (Image via The Tennis Letter)

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Taylor Fritz is certainly not satisfied with his preparation for the 2026 Australian Open, because instead of his pre-season training, he was nursing a knee injury during the four-week off-season. Fritz, after his 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 win over Valentin Royer, blamed the short off-season for players’ injuries.

The American ace struggled throughout his campaign at the United Cup, where the then-defending champions USA suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of eventual champions Poland in the final. Fritz featured in four matches, out of which he won just one- against Spain’s Jaume Munar. He lost his other singles matches to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, Argentina’s Sebastian Baez, and Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.

Maybe the season is too long, I don’t know. Maybe four weeks isn’t enough to fully get healthy of all injuries. You know, it is what it is. You know, I think I laid a lot of groundwork in the off-season to get healthy. But at the same time, the off-season is so short, you need to be like training hard in the off-season, or else you come into the year feeling like you’ve not played enough matches or had enough time on court, which is very much how I feel.

Taylor Fritz said at the press conference after his first-round win in Melbourne

Fritz will next be locking horns with Vit Kopriva, who eliminated Jan-Lennard Struff in five sets. The upcoming match will be their first head-to-head meeting.

Fritz will be hoping to make the semifinals at Melbourne Park for the first time. He has so far played just one quarterfinal here, back in 2024, losing that match to 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic. Last year, Gael Monfils ended his run in the third round.

Taylor Fritz analyzes his match against Valentin Royer

Taylor Fritz at the press conference said he doesn’t bother to win a set if he gets broken multiple times, but in that match against Valentin Royer, he fought hard to end the first set in his favor. After much toiling internally about his next moves, he got calm and confident when he stopped overthinking, and this, in turn, helped him win the last two sets easily.

Taylor Fritz
Taylor Fritz (Image via X/Jose Morgado)

The first set was crazy; I won it. Normally, if I get broken twice, I often don’t even bother trying to win the set. It’s like I’ve already lost it. I played two really good games from the return to break his serve. I gave myself the chance to try and break his serve in that set, and I did it. Then I stopped overthinking what I should do while hitting the ball, like in the first two sets.

Taylor Fritz said at the press conference

Fritz is a one-time Grand Slam finalist, reaching the stage at the 2024 US Open where he was dismantled by World No.2 Jannik Sinner. Last year in Majors, Fritz produced his best when he made the semifinals of Wimbledon, where eventual runner-up Carlos Alcaraz knocked him out in four sets.

Fritz played three finals last year. The 10-time ATP singles titlist defeated World No.3 Alexander Zverev in the Stuttgart Open, following which, he took home his career’s fourth Eastbourne International trophy by beating Jenson Brooksby. He then lost the Japan Open final to Alcaraz. At the ATP Finals, the runner-up in 2024 failed to book a spot in the semifinals.

The 28-year-old is the winner of one Big Title- the 2022 Indian Wells Masters, which he won by upsetting 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal. Fritz also doesn’t have multiple ATP 500 titles to his name, winning so far just the 2022 Japan Open.

Also read: Jannik Sinner Makes Awkward Admission on Playing Doubles with Nick Kyrgios