ROLAND GARROS

May 22, 2026

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, we know that you missed most of the clay season, and you came back in Geneva last week. We just want to have an update how your knee is going and your preparation for Roland Garros.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, my knee, the positive is my knee felt good last week playing. It's been feeling good, and I could have rushed it and came back, like I was telling my team, you know, I wanted to play how I am, I wanted to play Madrid, Rome.

But, you know, just looking at the scans and talking to the doctor, we wanted to give it the proper time that was recommended, and I feel like I have kind of gotten over the hill, you can say, with the knee. I'm still going to feel it from time to time, but I've gotten to the point where I can play and probably not irritate it too much and really just keep improving it and improving it.

And, you know, based on scans from November to after Miami, the scans still showed that I was improving it, I was getting better. But, you know, I think I really just needed that time off to get, you know, get that last bit of progress that I was looking for on it.

A bit rusty, obviously, but, you know, feeling good physically and excited to get back to just playing tennis and, you know, getting my level back.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You talked in the opening answer just about your personality, your stubbornness about wanting to play. What was the final decision or balance like of agreeing to step back with your team and riding that out? Do you think it was the right choice overall to wait as long as you did in the end?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, my team literally came to me after Miami and said, you know, you can go play Monte-Carlo, you can go play whatever, but we're not coming with you, so...

That makes the decision pretty easy in the end, and it's fair. You know, I felt like I'd play one match on anti-inflammatories, feel good, and then after one match, I'd be playing through a lot of pain even on the anti-inflammatories.

So that's just not, you know, it's just not ideal, it's not sustainable, and we obviously want me to be healthy and in a good spot with the knee for the grass court season, and all the stutter-stepping and the choppy steps you take on grass is not ideal for it.

So I felt like, you know, the decision in the end was just let's try to get it better so by the time grass court season comes around, I can hopefully play 100%.

Q. How engaged have you been in the discussions about Grand Slam prize money? Are you sticking to the 15-minute rule today?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, I have been involved with all the guys, as pretty much all the top players have been, and I think at the end of the day it's not about wanting more money. It's about just wanting what's fair. And as the tournaments make more money, we obviously want to see the revenue shared back to the players reflect that.

I think obviously when it's going the opposite direction and going down, it's disappointing to see. We have been pretty patient and mild with, I'd say, our requests, and it's kind of like, I don't know, I think all of us feel it's a bit disrespectful to just be ignored when the sport is the healthiest, when I think there is a very fair partnership and, you know, open dialogue between the players and the tournaments.

I think, as well, asking for just contribution to the pension and stuff like that is really fair when I think the ATP has done that for a long time, and obviously the Grand Slams make the bulk of the revenue in the sport, I think it's a pretty simple ask. I don't think we're asking for anything too crazy.

Q. Given that, if you continue to be ignored and more action is required in the view of the players, could you imagine a world in which you'd be prepared to boycott a Grand Slam?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I don't know if I want to start throwing around the "B" word.

Q. Because it feels too radical?

TAYLOR FRITZ: It's a really big deal, and I don't think we as players should really, I don't know, make big threats like that unless we're fully ready to do it. I think that's a discussion we need to have and we need to see what the potential ramifications for doing that are.

But, yeah, I mean, it gets to a point where, you know, something does have to change if we are ignored, so that's a conversation to have, I think. You know, like I said, right now I'm not ready to start tossing that around, because I want to really mean it if I'm going to say it.

Q. So no discussions about the "B" word?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Not that I have been involved in. I have also been out for the last two months, so... (smiling).

Q. I wanted to ask how the 15-minute rule probably works? Is it 10 minutes for the news conference? If so, are you on a clock?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think the 15 minutes is however I want to make it or use my 15 minutes. I just came in here, and, I don't know, when I told I'm done, I'm done. I like talking to you guys... (Laughter.)

Q. For you, you posted an Instagram slide show of yourself in the gym. I wonder how much you were able to improve physically while sidelined? Is that something you take pride in that can set you up longer? Tell us about bulking up with your lower body joint having issue also.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Well, the idea wasn't actually to bulk up. It's my knee, and it's a lot of load on my knee. So the idea was actually to lose weight while also trying to not lose muscle and put on muscle, which I was able to do. And that's why I posted.

I guess people don't really get to see that much or don't know, but I guess people that know me more closely would know that. That's probably, I was just posting it, because I was pretty proud of the work that I put in over the two months.

I have probably never really, like, been in this good of shape, like, physically. I lost, I think, 12 or 13 pounds, and all my lifts and weight, like all my lifts in the gym went up, so I got stronger and was able to lose a lot of weight and lean out.

So yeah, I mean, I was really committed to working really hard, which isn't easy when you can't play a ton of tennis. I was doing a lot of other types of cardio that I could do on my knee, and sticking to a really strict diet which I have never really done before.

Yeah, I was just proud of kind of what I did and how I used my, I guess, my time out.

Q. As someone who has played quite so many events as you have over the years and kind of needed to be forced by your team to stop at the moment, what has it been like for you just psychologically to not be going to events and being at home?

TAYLOR FRITZ: It felt weird. I told people this is the longest stretch I have spent at home since COVID. You know, I think for people it feels weird after offseason, coming back and playing that first match of the year, it feels like a little rusty, you haven't played matches. That's only, like, five weeks.

This was two months. It's a long time to be away from, you know, competitive tennis. It's longer than offseason, and it's tough to watch tournaments and watch people playing when it's going on.

This is something I have said. I'm a huge advocate for having more time off from the tour and us playing less tournaments, but it's very hard for me to just watch big events going on that I could be at that I know I could be playing, obviously through pain, but I could be there playing. It's not easy to see.

So I try to not pay attention to it. I really don't know much of what's been happening in tennis over the last two months.

Q. Just to catch you up what's been happening over the last two months, it's been Jannik Sinner winning everything.

TAYLOR FRITZ: I have seen that, yeah (smiling).

Q. What do you think about the challenge for the field with him having won all five Masters events this year? He's had, on that level, unprecedented dominance. What do you think it would take for any one of the other 127 guys to be able to derail him here?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Someone would have to just play a great match where everything is kind of clicking, and most importantly, they're just kind of winning the big points and playing well under pressure. I think, at the end of the day, that's what he absolutely does better than anyone. I think he plays the big points so well.

So even when guys can get those small opportunities in the matches, he really shuts them out of it. It would also take him, you know, having a little bit of an off day, maybe showing some nerves, but there has been absolutely no signs of that.

To be honest, when you're absolutely confident, as he obviously is right now, you don't really feel those nerves too often. I'd say it would have to be a storm of different things coming together, but the thing about tennis is it's, like, really anything is possible at times.