Taylor Fritz weighing break from tennis to heal knee tendinitis: “This week will be telling”

MIAMI, Fla. — It’s decision time for Taylor Fritz. After months of struggling with tendinitis, the 28-year-old is weighing an extended break from tennis to allow his knee to heal.

The top American spoke to the press ahead of the Miami Open presented by Itau, where he opened up about his condition—one that has improved and regressed from week to week and even day to day.

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“I’m still managing my knee. Some days it’s better than others, and I don’t know why exactly,” Fritz explained.

“In Dallas, for example, it felt amazing and it didn’t bother me at all the whole tournament. I felt like I was moving great. And then, in the lead-in to Indian Wells, it wasn’t. It felt like I almost regressed a little bit. Same thing happened in Australia, as well.”

Last year, Fritz described his knee as “completely cooked” after losing a long round-robin match against Carlos Alcaraz at the ATP Finals in Turin.

We said, after Miami if we’re not seeing big improvements, it might be time to… just, like, slow down a bit on the playing and get it healed 100 percent.

He revealed that he had been dealing with tendinitis—inflammation of the tendons—almost “all year long.” The issue began as post-match pain that could be managed during cooldown, but eventually progressed to “struggling to bend my back leg” on serve and, later, struggling to load the right leg at all during matches.

Fritz’s up-and-down results have reflected the issue. Last year, the American didn’t win back-to-back matches from Tokyo (at the end of September 2025) until this year’s Australian Open, where he reached the fourth round.

He then followed that with a strong showing in Dallas, reaching the final before falling to countryman Ben Shelton—only to pick up two match wins combined across Delray Beach and Indian Wells.

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Now, after more than a year caught in this cycle, Fritz and coach Michael Russell are considering their next move—including the possibility of an extended break from competition to allow for total rest and recovery.

“This is kind of the cut-off,” Fritz explained. “We said, after Miami if we’re not seeing big improvements, it might be time to… just, like, slow down a bit on the playing and get it healed 100 percent.

“Because if there was a portion of the season that I think I’d be more OK missing, it would be the clay-court season, like I did last year.

“I think this week is going to be very telling for it. But, overall, it’s not bad.”

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In the meantime, the 28-year-old has been leaning on his strong serve to help bail him out of trouble in matches.

“I do feel like, so far this year and toward the end of last year, I’m serving probably the best I’ve probably ever served in my career,” he said. “I still feel like that’s the case, I just need to make sure my body is healthy. When it feels 100 percent then I also feel like I can move really well. I think that’s something I maybe didn’t feel like I was doing great at Indian Wells.”

Fritz, the No. 7 seed, awaits the winner of Denis Shapovalov and Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round in Miami.