Fritz, devastated: "I don't understand how I let this happen"

Taylor Fritz was one of the great hopes of American tennis to reign at the US Open 2026, but he has fallen in the third round to Fran Cerúndolo. The disappointment for the Californian has been immense, as evident from his heartbreaking words in the press conference.

There are defeats that hurt particularly, and one of them is the one that Taylor Fritz suffered in the third round of the US Open 2026 against Fran Cerúndolo. Not even in his worst nightmares did the American imagine he would be out of his favorite tournament so soon, seeing his hopes of having as remarkable a performance as when he reached the finals thwarted. His desolation was maximum at the end of the match.

This is what Fritz said after being eliminated by Cerúndolo at the US Open 2026

Fritz reflects on his defeat after wasting a two-set lead

"I don't think anything happened that wasn't already happening. I was lucky to pull through the first and second sets because he wasn't serving well and was making some errors."

"I was playing very well from the baseline. He was making some mistakes at those points, and I also played well on some of them. I just needed to serve a bit better."

"He played a very good game to break back at the beginning of the third set. It was pretty much the same as what had been happening, because I wasn't serving as well as I normally do."

"Additionally, he is a very, very good returner. I think that made it seem or feel even worse that I wasn't placing my serves well enough. He was punishing me more than maybe a normal person would have."

Fritz's frustration over his defeat

"Yeah. I don't even know what to say. I don't want to talk to anyone or see anyone. I just need to get out of here for a couple of days and then get back to work. I don't know how I let this happen today."

"He definitely gained confidence with his shots. He played much better. From the baseline, I felt that what got me the first two sets was that I was playing very well. I think he started to play more aggressively and made fewer mistakes. That makes everything tougher."

"I felt that he went very deep and that the quality of his shots was very good. I started having a lot of trouble hurting him."

"I felt I had to take a lot of risks to hit a shot that would end the point. It seemed to me that he didn't have to do that. It looked much easier for him to dictate the points than it was for me."

The pain of having let opportunities slip in the fifth set

"To be honest, I didn't think it was something I had to worry too much about. If I start getting too scared about losing a set, then it becomes a bigger problem. I was pretty calm."

"I just told myself that the simple thing was that I needed to start serving better. And I felt that in the fifth set I did, and I had my opportunities. I had 0-40 serving for the match, and unfortunately, I had a return that I probably could have made."

"But in the other two, he made very good serves. That’s something that completely changed during the match. In the first set and in the first two and a half sets, I felt I wasn't serving very well. When I made first serves, the placements weren't always good, and the percentage wasn't very high either."

"Then I felt that in the fourth and fifth, he served incredibly well, placed his serves really well, and served really well. In the fifth set, he got himself out of trouble thanks to his serving."

"My level from the baseline went down a bit. I wasn't hitting the ball as well as at the beginning of the match. When that happens, it's harder to play those pressure moments because I have a bit more doubt about my shots."

Fritz denies having knee problems during the match

"I have no doubt that tomorrow morning it will be a bit stiff. It's not something that affected this match. I was moving at my maximum throughout the entire match, until the end of the fifth set. I felt like I was giving my all, and it wasn't a problem."

"It's getting better. If I had won this match, who knows how I would be for the next one. Maybe well, maybe badly. I don't want to speak too soon because I started being very positive about it during the grass season and then, out of nowhere, I felt it in the quarterfinals."

"Who knows. But the fact that I was able to play all the matches I played in Washington, many times on consecutive days, then throughout the hard court swing, and here, in addition to training a lot, shows that I am definitely moving in the right direction."

The desolation of Taylor Fritz highlights just how much this defeat at the US Open 2026 has hurt the American. It will take a lot for him to recover emotionally from a blow like this, but great players always take these episodes to improve in the long run.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Fritz, destrozado: "No entiendo cómo he dejado que pase esto"