By Toby Davis
LONDON (Reuters) -More than nine hours on court across 14 gruelling sets has proved just the tonic for Taylor Fritz’s creaky joints, with the world number five declaring himself fresher than ever after reaching Wimbledon’s fourth round on Friday.
The American was taken the distance in his opening two matches before defeating Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4 6-3 6-7(5) 6-1 on Centre Court, extending his stay at the All England Club.
Having begun the tournament nursing tendinitis in his knee along with other fitness concerns, the 27-year-old Fritz may have wanted to sail serenely through the opening rounds in the shortest time possible.
Yet it turns out that being put through the Grand Slam grinder has worked wonders for his body.
“Yeah, the body. I mean, I think it was weird. The first day of my first match my knee was kind of bugging me,” Fritz explained.
“I’ve had tendinitis I’ve been dealing with. It’s kind of flared up the whole grasscourt season, I think just because you’re taking a lot of extra stutter steps and stuff. It’s a little tougher on it. I was feeling that a bit. It’s actually now gotten better. Is completely gone.”
One battle scar refusing to heal, however, is a bloody scrape on Fritz’s elbow that he twice re-opened against Davidovich Fokina — a war wound picked up diving for the ball against Gabriel Diallo in the previous round.
That did not stop him throwing himself around court on Friday, however, even if the trainer had to be called on twice to patch him up.
“It’s getting pretty annoying having to stop all the time,” he said.
“I feel bad for my opponent when I keep having to stop all the time, but you can only really do it on grass. I’m just really determined to get some of these balls, and eventually I’m going to win one of these points.”
Despite Friday’s four-set victory being “much more physical than my other two matches” with “a lot more side-to-side running in the heat,” Fritz declared: “Overall I’m feeling good.”
(Reporting by Toby Davis; editing by Clare Fallon)
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