"Thought it wasn't going to be like this": Taylor Fritz latest to groan about 'long' ATP season

Taylor Fritz has bemoaned the physical and mental toll that the ATP season has taken on him despite continuing to win matches at the Shanghai Masters.

Fritz defeated 12th seed Holger Rune in the fourth round of the 2024 Shanghai Masters on Wednesday 9 October. The American has played over 60 singles matches this season and discussed the mental and physical toll.

He mentioned that he had hoped his higher ranking would help him to skip more tournaments. But going deeper into bigger events has been more of a curse than a blessing as his success has meant more matches.

"Pretty awful. Yeah, I mean, it's like the season is too long. I always thought if I got ranked higher I could play less, and I am, I am playing less tournaments, but I'm also winning a lot more matches at the big tournaments, so I'm playing probably more than ever, even though I thought it wasn't going to be like this (laughing)," he said.

Fritz also said that he has been dealing with injuries since the French Open but has the opinion that if he's fine he will play over having time out likely due to his high ranking. Of course he reached his maiden Grand Slam final at the US Open and then played Laver Cup and Japan Open in the intervening weeks.

"I've been dealing with injuries since the French Open that I haven't had time to get to go away, I've kind of just been playing through," Fritz said.

"If an injury is not completely bad enough to keep me out, then I'm just going to play, I don't want to, you know, waste months, and just slowly it gets better, and it kind of has. That's not just me, at this time of the year most of the guys have been going all year, everyone's dealing with something,"