"As soon as I start eating, they say, ‘15 minutes, you’re going back out.": Taylor Fritz shares bizarre story of 90-minute break during Cincinnati Open

Taylor Fritz overcame a challenging mix of heat, a mid-match blackout delay, and a dangerous opponent to defeat Ugo Humbert in the third round of the Cincinnati Open 2025. The American found a way to adapt and close out the win despite tricky conditions and an inspired performance from his opponent.

“I mean, he was serving well,” Fritz said afterwards while speaking to The Tennis Channel. “I felt like he hit his backhand today better than he has in the past against me — definitely fewer errors, and he was pretty aggressive with it at times. I just had to find that break, and it took a while.”

One tense moment came late in the second set. “That one would have killed me,” Fritz admitted of a near highlight-reel winner Humbert narrowly missed at 5–4, 0–30. “I gave everything I had in that point. I was kind of saving a bit in the tank for when I really needed to grind out a point like that. Then I saw the shot he was about to hit and kind of stopped moving. I could’ve 100% been there if I put in the effort, but I thought, ‘Ah, it’ll be fine.’”

The match was interrupted by a 90-minute delay due to a brief blackout, forcing Fritz to reset. “I just relaxed in the locker room, cooled off, tried to hydrate,” he said. “The first set was really hot and pretty long. The annoying thing is they give us increments of ‘not before 15 minutes’ at a time. So I decide, okay, it might be a while, I’m going to eat — and as soon as I start eating, they say, ‘15 minutes, you’re going back out.’”

Fritz has been on a strong run since June, with two titles and semifinal appearances at Wimbledon and last week’s event. Still, he says he hasn’t quite hit peak form. “I think I was playing my best tennis during the grass-court season for sure. Since then, the turnaround has been so quick I haven’t had time to train or dial things in, especially with my body. I’m still dealing with wear and tear from so many matches. I feel like there is still ways to go for me to feel really confident about the US Open. which I am really excited for. I’m excited for the week off after this tournament to kind of dial it in but I feel like I have been playing so much. I have played myself into like decent form but I haven’t’ had the time over the last like, two and a half weeks to really work on the things I want to work on and get to the level I want to be at.”

The scheduling demands of being a marquee player have also tested Fritz’s adaptability. “My normal bedtime is around 11 p.m., but if I’m playing second on in the night session after 7, I don’t want to be, you know, you could potentially be on the court at 11 p.m. like I was last week. You don’t want to be on the court in the time window that you are used to going to sleep. You need your body clock to be set. I think the science behind it is eight hours after waking up is when you are like at your peak. I think six to eight when it’s like best. So yea I am going to sleep purposely at like 2, 3 a.m. in Toronto and it’s tough when you get here. Even today, playing third on, I have to be potentially ready to play at like 2 p.m. Even that’s not easy for me to get my hours in with just the sleep schedule I have been on. So it’s tough to be constantly adjusting it.”

Fritz is also set to make a mixed doubles appearance at the US Open alongside Elena Rybakina. “I really do think we’re one of the favourites,” he said. “We have a mixed doubles title already, and I thought we played great there. I’d love to play mixed doubles regularly if it didn’t overlap with singles, but being able to play it before the week starts is amazing. I’m super excited.”