By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, November 11, 2025
Photo: Swiss Indoors Basel Facebook
Taylor Fritz postponed Carlos Alcaraz to the limit – and his body to the breaking point – in Turin today.
Top-seeded Alcaraz exuded creativity and finishing skills up front Fritz 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 in thrilling drama to extend his ATP Finals record to 2-0 in the Jimmy Connors Group.
The two-hour-and-48-minute epic served as a shooting showcase and stands as the best singles match of these ATP Finals.
Afterwards, Fritz, who fell to 1-1 in round-robin play, admitted that tendinitis had left his freak knee feeling “totally cooked”.
“I mean, there’s definitely disappointment because, like I said, I felt like I had my chances.
to be completely honest it’s just the flatness it’s just my knee. My knee is completely cooked,” Fritz told media in Turin. “There’s nothing I can do really.
“I’ve been dealing with it all year. I’ve had tendinitis all year. It didn’t start to become a problem in my actual tennis matches until the grass court season, after the grass court season. Up until then I would only feel the pain after I cooled down, after I was done. It was never a problem. That’s when I started feeling it during matches.”
Sixth-seeded Fritz fought off eight of 11 break points today, but the stress of punishing ground races and the sudden surges needed to reduce Alcaraz’s shots provoked knee pain. Fritz said he felt flat and lacked explosion in the final set.
“Since that part of the year I’ve really struggled to play back-to-back days without getting hot,” Fritz said. “I feel like if I play a really hard day where I’m moving hard and playing hard, then I need a day to calm down. Tokyo was the only time all year, for whatever reason, I was able to play a pain-free day.
“Yeah, I started to feel it towards the end of the first set, but it didn’t really affect me until the third set. It just got to the point where I was really trying to bend the back leg on my serve, go into the backhand, load the leg, my right leg, like an open arm.
2024 finalist Fritz has one final round match remaining against Alex de Minaur in what would be a clash for a semi-final place.
Through two matches in Turin, Fritz has served extremely well. Fritz, who defeated Lorenzo Musetti in his opening match, has hit 27 aces against just two double faults and saved 12 of 15 break points in the two matches this week.
The 28-year-old American said he plans to play with the knee pain.
“I mean, the thing is, it takes you a few weeks to deal with it
strengthen it where you’re not hitting it playing tennis,” Fritz said. “Unfortunately that period of time you need, which doesn’t exist in the tennis season.
“Obviously, as you can see, yesterday I played an excellent match, today I played two sets at an exceptional level.
Why would you ever stop for four to six weeks when I can do it on the field? I’m just going to play until the end.”
