Taylor Fritz began his 2026 Australian Open campaign with a victory. After the match, he revealed that the knee injury he had previously been suffering from had improved, but he was now dealing with some new injuries.
Fritz started his 2026 season by representing the United States at the United Cup. During the group stage, he lost to Sebastián Báez but later beat Jaume Munar. In the quarterfinals, he was defeated by Stefanos Tsitsipas, and then lost to Hubert Hurkacz in the semifinals. Throughout the tournament, he struggled with a knee injury that hindered his performance.
Taylor Fritz Opened Up About Suffering From Fresh Injuries at Australian Open After 1R Win
Fritz is seeded ninth at the 2026 Australian Open, and he kicked off his campaign by defeating Valentin Royer with a scoreline of 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 in the first round, a match that lasted just over three hours.
During the post-match press conference, the former World No. 4 stated that there had been “big improvements” in his knee. He expressed that he hadn’t expected to compete in such a long match against the Frenchman and described the condition of his knee as “promising.”
“There’s been some pretty big improvements in my knee. That was the goal to start feeling that about a little over two months into the program of strengthening the tendon. I’m way better than I expected to be after how I felt my first week or so in Australia. I didn’t expect to be able to play the physicality and length of the match I played today, and actually not have my knee feel awful right now. It really is promising,” Fritz said.
Shortly after mentioning the improvement in his knee, Fritz revealed that some other injuries had popped up. He chose not to elaborate on these injuries and said that he knows how to manage them, as he is “familiar” with them from previous experiences.
“But unfortunately, there were some other injuries that popped up this week, kind of when I was getting ready, which sucks. I don’t want to get into it too much. I might talk about it a bit after the tournament, but I’m kind of just having to feel it out as I go because it’s something that I’ve dealt with before. So, I am familiar with it,” he added.
Looking ahead, following his win over Royer in the first round of the 2026 Australian Open, Fritz is set to face VÃt KopÅ™iva in the second round. The Czech player secured his spot against the former World No. 4 by eliminating Jan-Lennard Struff with a scoreline of 4-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the first round.
Fritz and Kopřiva have never played against each other on the ATP Tour, making their upcoming second-round match a first-time encounter. The winner will advance to face either wild card Stan Wawrinka or qualifier Arthur Géa in the third round of the Grand Slam tournament.
