Taylor Fritz’s Australian Open ended in a grueling physical struggle on Monday as he was beaten 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 by fifth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti.
While it marked a milestone for Musetti, for the No. 9-seeded Fritz, the fourth-round match signaled that his body may have reached its limit.
The 2024 US Open runner-up revealed in a post-match news conference that he had arrived in Melbourne in two minds about his fitness, and had nearly withdrawn because of knee and abdominal issues.
“I was fully ready to shut it down for a couple of months to get it better,” Fritz said, adding that he'd told his team: “If it stays how it is, we are just going to have to stop. I can’t play through this.”
His physiotherapist had different ideas.
“My physio, who is great and I trust him, he said that he thinks there’s a pretty solid chance that we can do all the rehab protocol and do everything we need to do while I’m still playing,” Fritz said.
After feeling discomfort in his third-round win over 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka, a much sterner test against world No. 5 Musetti proved too much.
Despite feeling “very good” in his warmup, albeit with his torso heavily strapped to help his obliques, Fritz said painkillers failed to bridge the gap.
“I thought they would maybe kick in. It didn’t do anything,” he said. "A lot of my mistakes came from me pulling up, not feeling like I’m loading my knee hard enough."
Retiring from the match wasn't really a consideration.
“Most of the time when I’m playing through an injury, I can just go on the court and just not think about it and just, like, play and get into the match,” Fritz said. "I just could not today.
"I’m not the kind of person that pulls out. Especially in the second set, I was just really hoping I could get something going."
The 28-year-old Fritz said he's hoping he can play the tournament in Dallas, but will have to wait and see how his body recovers.
“I don’t know why my knee got so much worse kind of in the last three days,” he said. "It was feeling really good through my first two rounds and all the practices before that.
“I don’t know if it’s just the overload of playing physical three, four sets, stuff like that. But you know, I have some more time to heal it. I feel like (if) I keep up with the rehab, it’s going to keep getting better.”
