Taylor Fritz is heading into the US Open swing with some momentum, but not without a scare. The American reached the semi-finals of the Washington Open after a nerve-shredding 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(6) quarter-final victory over compatriot Alex Michelsen, a match that saw Fritz call for a medical timeout at 2-2 in the deciding set after experiencing what he described as a sudden, intense knee problem.
Fritz was candid after the match, explaining that the sensation was eerily familiar. He compared it to something that happened earlier this year in Dallas, describing it as a very sharp, strange pain that tends to ease once a physio works on the area and he gets moving again. He noted that the Dallas experience actually gave him confidence in the moment, because he knew from that episode that the issue would likely settle down quickly with treatment.
The timing was critical. Fritz admitted he would almost certainly have dropped his serve had he not called the physio immediately, given how painful every movement felt at that point. After treatment, he steadied himself, saved a match point, and closed out the tie-break to advance.
2026 has been a complicated year for Fritz. Knee tendinitis in late March kept him out of all three clay-court Masters 1000 events, and he suffered first-round exits in Geneva and at Roland Garros. The grass season was a welcome turnaround, with back-to-back finals in Stuttgart and Halle and a Wimbledon quarter-final run. Washington has continued that upward trajectory, and Fritz also notched the 250th hard-court win of his career in his opening match against Zizou Bergs.
Montreal and Cincinnati loom before the US Open. TennisDraw users tracking Fritz's bracket potential will want to keep a close eye on how that knee holds up over the next few weeks.
