Taylor Fritz has been dumped out of the ATP Finals after losing to Alex de Minaur in his last round robin match.
The American had a 1-1 record heading into the contest against the Australian and was the clear favourite to walk away from the match victorious.
Unfortunately for fans of the American, Fritz played far from his best and fell to a 6-7, 3-6 loss.
As a result, the 28-year-old has been knocked out of the competition, failing to emulate his run to the final 12 months ago.
Fritz will now have the opportunity to rest and recuperate ahead of the 2026 season, a campaign in which he will hope to win his first Grand Slam title.
Taylor Fritz provides an update on the condition of his knee
During his post-match press conference, Fritz began by summing up his experience at this year’s Finals.
The American noted his good play against Musetti and Alcaraz, while also expressing his dismay at losing to de Minaur.
Fritz said: “I think I played really well the first two matches. I think today was not my best. I think, again, a lot of the struggles I had are because of the way that Demon hits the ball.
“He was just kind of picking sides, guessing sometimes on my serve. It made it tough sometimes to serve because I’d hit serves that I’m used to never coming back, and he’s already taken three steps in that direction when I toss the ball.
“He just, like, crushes the return back at me. He did a lot of good things.
“Yeah, today was probably the match that I’m not super happy about. I thought the other two matches I played well, did a lot of things well that maybe I hadn’t been doing well.
“I thought the first two matches I returned exceptionally well. That’s been something that I feel like I haven’t almost been doing as well as I normally do this year. I was happy about that. The serving, the returning, so…
“There are some positives to take. Obviously, right now I feel pretty, like, upset.”
The American then provided the public with an update on the condition of his knee.
After losing to Alcaraz on Monday, the American said his knee was ‘completely cooked,’ and that he had been dealing with the problem all year.
On Thursday, Fritz noted that he would use the off-season to rehabilitate his knee.
Yeah, I mean, it’s not like it was I’d say towards the end of my match the other day. I don’t think it would be fair to use it as much of an excuse for today,” Fritz told reporters.
“It wasn’t that bad. Like I said, a lot of times where I can get a day, like a light day, practice, I don’t have to play an intense match, just one day off, I can normally come back and it’s not too bad. It wasn’t the problem today, I would say.
“I think the plan, I’ve already been trying to do the proper rehab things you do for it for a while now. Like I said, it’s tough when I’m still playing on it and pounding it.
“I’m going to have a little bit of time off. I’m really excited. This is the first off-season I’m going to have in probably three or four years that’s three weeks or more than three weeks [smiling], so… I’m hoping that instead of playing catch-up with injuries in my body, this time around I can actually get healthy and be able to train.
“One of my biggest issues this year was anytime that I wasn’t playing tournaments or matches, I wasn’t actually able to really work on the things I felt like I needed to work on to get better and train hard.
“I felt like I was just kind of trying to maintain and take time off, feel like I could be healthy, fresh, ready to play tournaments. I didn’t really get to go as hard as I would have liked to in my time off.
“The plan is to just stay on top of the rehab, and hopefully the rehab, with not playing a ton of tennis for a couple weeks will show some improvements, and I can get it better, then still have time to train and be ready for the next season.”
As for de Minaur, he will have to wait to find out his ATP Finals fate. The Australian is currently second in his round robin group, but if Lorenzo Musetti defeats Carlos Alcaraz later today, the Australian will be knocked out of the competition.
The Australian, who snapped a 16-match losing streak against top-10 opponents, would enter the ATP top five for the first time in his career if he reaches the final in Turin.
The last player to qualify for the semi-finals with a 1-2 record
Alex de Minaur’s victory over Fritz has rekindled his hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals.
It is a rarity for a player to qualify while having such a record. In fact, it has not occurred in nine years.
At the 2016 ATP Finals, Kei Nishikori qualified for the last four with a 1-2 record after beating Stan Wawrinka, and losing to Andy Murray and Marin Cilic.
Nishikori would end up losing in the semi-finals to Novak Djokovic: 1-6, 1-6.
