Adding to a "High Tennis IQ"

Coach Michael Russell on building Taylor Fritz into the best American man of his generation. Plus, an update on Jannik Sinner's injury prognosis.

WIMBLEDON, England — Before we get into today’s main Bounces topic, which is Taylor Fritz, a quick word on the biggest question mark from yesterday at Wimbledon:

After having an MRI on his right elbow Tuesday morning, top-seeded Jannik Sinner canceled a practice session scheduled for 4 p.m. at Aorangi, which is Wimbledon’s grass court practice facility.

The Aorangi no-show sent panic through the gathered Italian media; they were still fretting about it amongst themselves hours later. One level-headed Italian reporter tried assuring the others that surely they shouldn’t be taking Sinner Elbow Watch 2025 as deathly seriously as covering something like a G20 Summit, but that suggestion seemed to fall on deaf ears.

When I heard Sinner had canceled his Aorangi session, I thought he might’ve simply chosen a more secluded spot to test out his elbow away from the cameras. Sure enough, Sinner did in fact hit on Tuesday, albeit lightly for about half-an-hour, behind closed doors at the All-England Club’s indoor facility.

“No news on the MRI just yet,” Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill said in ESPN’s studio set on Monday after the practice. “He had it earlier today and he can’t take a day off, so he wanted to touch the ball… So Simone [Vagnozzi, Sinner’s other coach] and myself just fed him a few balls out of the basket.”

Cahill said Sinner’s elbow had been “pretty sore afterwards” on Monday evening.

“He lost about six or seven miles per hour on average speed off the forehand, and off the serve as well,” Cahill said. “But I don’t want to take anything away from Grigor because he played an amazing match for a couple of sets and even had a couple of chances in the third. What happened to him was a travesty.”

Don't Look Ahead in Anger

There’s also an update on Grigor Dimitrov’s injury prognosis which is a bit more optimistic than I’d expected after yesterday’s grim scenes: Bulgarian tennis reporter Emil Evtimov reported that Dimitrov “has suffered a partial tear of his pectoral muscle,” according to Dimitrov’s manager Georgi Stoimenov. “He will miss Bastad, Toronto, and Cincinnati, but is expected to return in time for the U.S. Open.”

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The main topic of today’s Bounces, however, is new Wimbledon semifinalist Taylor Fritz, the ATP No. 5 who is into the final four here for the first time.

Taylor Fritz after winning his quarterfinal on Tuesday at Wimbledon. (Associated Press / Alamy)

Fritz booked his spot with a four-set win over Karen Khachanov on Tuesday afternoon, continuing a prolific grass swing that included titles at two warm-up tournaments, Stuttgart and Eastbourne. But Fritz’s next test will be his toughest: he will face two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who is on a 23-match win streak dating back to Rome, for a spot in the Wimbledon final.

After Fritz’s quarterfinal win on Tuesday, I interviewed his coach, Michael Russell—winner of the ATP’s 2024 Coach of the Year award—for this piece for Bounces subscribers, which I hope anyone who has been considering taking the jump to subscribing here might do so for this one.

Though he’s established himself relatively quietly, one could argue, Fritz is the best man American tennis has had in a generation or two, and his progress is worth understanding and learning from as the nation enters its third decade of a men’s major drought.

I was glad to get the chance to learn more about Fritz and his progress from Russell during our interview, as well as how they size up the big match coming up against Carlos Alcaraz. I’m sure many of y’all will learn a whole bunch ahead of the big Wimbledon semifinal on Friday, and I hope you can take the leap!

Thanks for reading and supporting my tennis journalism at Bounces during Wimbledon 2025 and beyond! -Ben