Taylor Fritz withdraws hours before Monte-Carlo Masters draw as injury hell continues

Taylor Fritz's injury hell has continued with the American deciding to withdraw mere hours before the Monte-Carlo Masters draw as his travails with abdomen continue.

Fritz has suffered with an abdominal injury since Acapulco but he managed to reach the semi-final at Miami albeit tweaked it again. He also lost in the Last 16 of Indian Wells to Jack Draper.

But essentially Fritz is dealing with the issue that in reality he cannot take time off in order to heal and recoup due to the rampant nature of the tour. He also defends final points from the US Open later in the season so has to ward against ranking drops.

But he has decided to not to travel to Monaco albeit the signs were perhaps there earlier in the week.

Fritz was due to play UTS this weekend between April 4-5 but decided to withdraw due to injury and has since manifested itself to be serious enough that he not only cannot play the exhibition but also Monte-Carlo.

“I was super-excited to come back to the UTS Tour after I made the final in Los Angeles in 2023,” said Fritz.

“Unfortunately, I aggravated an abdominal injury during my semi-final match in Miami, and I will not be able to recover in time to compete in Bastide Médical UTS Nîmes this week. I was really looking forward to play in this iconic venue and can’t wait to be back on UTS soon!”

Of those top seeds left, Novak Djokovic is perhaps the other who could yet withdraw. The Serbian has often not played Monte-Carlo and the onus would be on whether he would recover in time. Jakub Mensik for instance who beat Djokovic in the final already has withdrawn so perhaps it would be a surprise to see him play next week.

Especially given he will actually play Madrid this year unlike previous years and of course is likely at the moment to be in Rome.