Despite arriving in Australia with knee tendonitis, Taylor Fritz hasn’t let it slow him down. He battled past both Valentin Royer and Vit Kopriva before knocking out heavy fan favorite Stan Wawrinka, 7-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, to reach the fourth round. But after the grind of that match, Fritz offered a concerning update about his fitness.

In his post-match press conference, Taylor Fritz was asked about his physical condition and if there’s anything he could still improve. “Maybe there are still some body concerns after this match,” Fritz admitted, before adding, “but I think overall the level is not bad. I can work with a lot of the things I’m doing on the court this week.”

Since he came into the Australian Open already dealing with an injury, one reporter went a step further and asked whether he felt healthy enough to actually win the tournament. That’s when Fritz opened up and honestly spoke about how his body is really feeling.“To be honest, today wasn’t a great day for me physically,” he said.

“The other day I was starting to feel really confident, maybe even overconfident about my knee. But right now it feels pretty bad, and it didn’t feel great during the match either,” the 28-year-old revealed.

Regardless, Fritz gave a gritty performance, even while not feeling 100 percent. Wawrinka shook off a tight first-set tiebreak loss and rolled through the second, but then dropped the third set before taking a medical timeout. After that, the Swiss veteran struggled at times to keep up the same pressure.

Fritz took control in the fourth set and didn’t look back. He held off a late surge that included some blistering one-handed backhands from Wawrinka, eventually sealing the win and setting up a fourth-round clash with fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti for a spot in the quarterfinals.

“It was a really tough match, the environment as well,” Fritz said afterwards, reflecting on the battle against the crowd favorite.

Indeed, winning matches hasn’t been easy for Taylor Fritz while dealing with injury. And he’s made it clear he doesn’t see it as just his own problem. Fritz has pointed to the packed tennis calendar as a big reason behind what he’s going through, saying it’s something that affects many players, not just him.

Taylor Fritz questions Tennis schedule as injury fears linger

After his win over Valentin Royer, Taylor Fritz opened up about how demanding the tour has become and how often players are now battling injuries.

“Yeah, I mean, if you look at the tour, it’s not just me. There’s a lot of people starting the year with injuries,” Fritz said. “Maybe the season’s too long. Maybe four weeks isn’t enough to fully get healthy from everything. It is what it is.”

He went on to explain the difficult balance players face in the offseason. “Like I said, I think I did a lot of work in the offseason to get healthy, but at the same time, the offseason is so short you still need to train hard,” he said. “Otherwise, you start the year feeling like you haven’t played enough matches or spent enough time on court, which is exactly how I feel.”

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And Fritz isn’t alone in feeling this way. World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has echoed similar concerns about the packed schedule.

On Thursday in Melbourne, Swiatek needed just 79 minutes to beat Marie Bouzkova 6-2, 6-3 and reach the third round of the Australian Open. After the match, she was asked about Fritz’s comments and whether players are arriving at tournaments less fresh than before.

“Well, no, physically I feel good,” Swiatek said. “But for sure the schedule is packed. There’s not much time to reset completely. It’s kind of impossible. So it feels like there’s no real beginning or end of the season,” she revealed.

“Honestly, for people who work physically for about 11 months, you basically get like 10 days without the racket. That’s not enough time to reset. Because that’s what I got.”

Swiatek has since moved on after beating Anna Kalinskaya, and now has her eyes on a fourth-round clash with Maddison Inglis. At the same time, attention will also be on Fritz as he prepares to face Lorenzo Musetti, who battled through extreme heat and an inspired Tomas Machac to reach the fourth round and record his best-ever result in Melbourne.