Taylor Fritz lost to Alexander Zverev for the first time in eight matches on Wednesday, suffering a straight-sets defeat in the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships.
Hampered by a knee injury, the American simply wasn’t able to compete at his top level, and Zverev took full advantage as he claimed a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win.
Taylor Fritz Explains Heartbreaking Alexander Zverev Loss at Wimbledon
Fritz had arrived at Wimbledon after a confident start to the grass-court swing. He made the final in Stuttgart and Halle but withdrew from the Eastbourne Open field after picking up an injury on the eve of the tournament.
The 28-year-old enjoyed an impressive run at Wimbledon, but wasn’t able to repeat last year’s semifinal run as his campaign ended in the last eight against Zverev.
A knee injury hampered Fritz throughout the match after flaring up just three games in. Having had to deal with knee tendinitis for much of the first half of the year, Fritz was left searching for answers on Court 1.
“Three games into the match, when he was already up a break, I just started feeling my knee. Obviously, I would have liked to feel 100% and try to give him a match. I wish I knew before so I could have prepared to play a match where I was going to be playing through it. I was just panicking, like, ‘What am I going to do?’ I just didn’t expect it at all,” Fritz said during his post-match press conference.
However, the American also admitted after the match that even at 100% fitness, it may not have been enough against the in-form Zverev, who is riding the momentum of his French Open triumph that ended his Major drought.
“I could have still probably played a lot better through the issue,” he added. “I don’t really know what kind of difference it would have made in the match. He is going to be extremely tough to beat, the way he’s serving. He was very aggressive with his forehand and backhand, hit the ball great.”
With the grass-court swing now in the books, Taylor Fritz will turn his focus towards recovery before the start of the North American swing. Having made the final of the US Open in 2024, he will be hungry for more success at Flushing Meadows when the last Grand Slam of the year gets underway in August.
