Fritz Turning the Corner on Knee Issue as Wimbledon Run Crystallizes

Taylor Fritz’s knee tendinitis has been more of a story than his tennis in 2026. Slowly but surely, it’s fading into the background as the American’s tennis takes center stage on Wimbledon’s grass. 

The Southern Californian continued his fine form on the grass on Day 4, mowing down compatriot Patrick Kypson 6-2 6-2 7-5 to book his spot in the third round. Fritz, the No.6 seed, was a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year. Since then he has been dealing with an issue in his right knee, and his results have suffered as a result. 

But Fritz believes he is turning a corner after missing most of the clay-court season to continue rehabbing the injury. 

“I’m super stubborn,” Fritz said, admitting the obvious. “I still think I could have played the clay court season and kept rehabbing it on the road.” 

But the time off has served Fritz well. He detailed the origins of the injury, and what his been like to try and rehab while still playing a relatively full schedule during his post-match press conference on Thursday. 

“It was really, really bad after World Tour Finals last year, the scans. I just had like a hole in my tendon essentially,” he said. Even though I was playing from Australia to Miami, I was in a good amount of pain after Miami, I felt like — not I felt like, but the scans I got after that did show that I was regrowing the tendon…

“As I was playing, doing the rehab while I was playing, I was still slowly regrowing the tendon and it was working.”

After finally dialing back his schedule – Fritz travelled the globe and played 20 matches from the start of the year until the end of Miami, then took a full month and a half before returning to the tour in Geneva in mid-May – the former US Open finalist is finally feeling pain-free. 

“It does seem like I needed that time off to fully get over the hill,” he told reporters. “Still feels it from time to time, but more so once I’ve actually cooled down, it maybe stiffens up.

“It’s still a work in progress. It feels great to be able to do what I did in Stuttgart and Halle, nine matches in 11 days, most of them three sets, and not ever be thinking about my knee in pain on the court. That’s a huge step forward.” 

Fritz, considered one of the top contenders to emerge from the bottom half of the men’s draw, will face Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in the third round. He has won six of eight against the Italian, including each of the last four.