Taylor Fritz suffered a shocking loss at the hands of Alex de Minaur on Thursday and has consequently been removed from ATP Finals contention.
In his last match, Fritz came oh so close to defeating world number one Carlos Alcaraz, before losing to the Spaniard in three sets.
On Thursday, the American was not at the same level, losing 6-7, 3-6 to de Minaur.
However, it is not all doom and gloom for the American, who said he was ‘pretty upset’ after the match – he now has the opportunity to properly rehabilitate his knee injury, which caused him issues during the clash with Alcaraz.
Speaking of the match against Alcaraz, it seemed Fritz had not completely physically recovered from that contest when he stepped onto the court today.
Laura Robson says she underestimated the physical toll of Taylor Fritz’s match against Carlos Alcaraz
Laura Robson, a former junior Wimbledon champion, discussed Fritz’s loss to de Minaur during Sky Sports’ coverage of the match.
Robson admitted she had underestimated the physical impact of Fritz’s contest against Alcaraz on Tuesday. Alcaraz defeated the American 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3.
“It’s unbelievable, all the things that have happened in the last 24 hours, that was probably the least expected outcome from all of us,” Robson said of de Minaur’s victory on Thursday.
“And I think we underestimated how much that match took out of Fritz physically and mentally.
“We were all focused on de Minaur because he was honest in his press conference, but you have to think it was a very similar situation for Fritz.
“Physically today, it just looked like he never really got going. The footwork was a little flat and the frustration shows.
“For me, the frustration comes out when you’re tired, and we saw that pretty much from the second game that he was chatting away to his player box.
“He still competes extremely well, he absolutely never gives up but it was just that sort of irrational shot selection that we saw at times as well where you just get no height over the net from de Minaur, you get nothing really to work with and it comes at you so low and we just saw some unforced errors creep into the Fritz game from very, very early on.
“It was just like his legs had had that willingness to stay in these long rallies. Every time it [the rally] went over five or six shots, you definitely favoured de Minaur.”
As for de Minaur, he could become the first man since 2016 to qualify for the semi-finals with a 1-2 record. Kei Nishikori was the last to achieve the feat.
The Australian will find out his fate when Lorenzo Musetti and Carlos Alcaraz play their final round robin match tonight.
If Alcaraz wins, de Minaur advances. If Musetti wins, the Australian is out of contention.
Taylor Fritz is the most likely player to win a Grand Slam in 2026 aside from Sinner and Alcaraz
Despite losing his last nine ATP matches to Sinner and Alcaraz combined, Taylor Fritz remains their biggest threat on Tour.
The American has all the tools to beat both players: a gigantic serve, whip-like forehand and a solid backhand.
Fritz has proven he can challenge Alcaraz throughout the 2025 season – almost pushing the Spaniard to a fifth set at Wimbledon, and defeating him two months later at the Laver Cup.
As for Sinner, Fritz has not contested a match against the Italian since the final of the 2024 ATP Finals.
Ordinarily, Novak Djokovic would be the obvious choice. However, there is a big question mark regarding his ability to remain physically sound throughout a Grand Slam tournament, after suffering multiple physical issues in 2025.
