Sawt Falasteen - Fritz struggling with 'serious tendonitis' ahead of Australian Open

The American had a rock-solid 2025, winning in Eastbourne and Stuttgart and qualifying for the ATP Finals, despite dealing with tendonitis.

"I couldn't really (target) anything," he said on the ATP Tour website on what he worked on during the off-season.

"My goal was really just to try and rehab my knee. I still have pretty serious tendonitis and that's something that takes a really long time to get rid of."

Despite the inflammation lingering, the American said he does not feel it was serious enough yet to warrant a complete break from the tour.

"The demands of playing make it a lot harder to get rid of it, but at the same time I don't really want to go full stop for four months to try to get it better when I feel like I can sometimes play through it," he said.

"Sometimes it gets too bad to play through, but that was really the focus of the six weeks (off-season), just doing a lot of rehab and strengthening, and trying to lay out a base where I can maybe start to get it better.

"Maybe a couple of months into the season I can be over it."

Fritz opens his 2026 campaign at the mixed-teams United Cup in Perth, leading Team USA alongside Coco Gauff, before the Australian Open in Melbourne from January 18.

I.Matar--SF-PST