James Duckworth’s Winston-Salem run ends with an injury retirement before the US Open

James Duckworth’s best Winston-Salem campaign ended abruptly against Arthur Fery, leaving the Australian with a timely fitness question to answer before his US Open campaign begins.

A promising week stopped short James Duckworth’s run at the Winston-Salem Open ended with an injury retirement on Friday, August 28, a result that has shifted the meaning of his week from progress alone to preparation under pressure.

Duckworth retired while trailing fourth seed Arthur Fery 6-4, 1-2 in the semifinal. The tournament’s official results recorded the same scoreline, while the Winston-Salem Open confirmed that Fery advanced after Duckworth was unable to continue. (atptour.com)

The Australian had reached the last four by beating Fabian Marozsan 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4 in the quarter-final, his fourth ATP Tour semifinal and his deepest run in Winston-Salem. That victory came after a demanding two hours and 23 minutes in humid North Carolina conditions, making the physical context relevant without establishing a specific cause of the retirement. (tennis.com.au)

The fitness question is now the story There is no verified public diagnosis attached to Duckworth’s retirement at the time of writing. The Lawn Tennis Association reported that he took a medical timeout before ending the match, but neither the tournament nor the available official result identified the body part involved or the expected recovery timeline. (prod.lta.org.uk)

That distinction matters. A retirement in a semifinal does not, by itself, establish that Duckworth’s US Open participation is in doubt. The 2026 US Open player list includes Duckworth, and the tournament is scheduled to begin on Sunday, August 23 and run through September 13, with the men’s singles event entering its opening phase from August 30. (usopen.org)

It does, however, leave him with a compressed recovery window. Duckworth’s value in New York will depend less on the ranking points earned in North Carolina than on whether he can practise, serve and move freely in the days immediately before his first-round match. Until there is an update from the player, his team or the tournament, any more specific injury assessment would be speculation.

Fery becomes the immediate measure Fery’s progress gives the match a useful competitive reference point. The British player led from the first set, breaking through to take it 6-4 before Duckworth retired early in the second. Fery said afterward that he had hoped Duckworth would recover and prepare for the following week, while also acknowledging that the Australian had been serving effectively and making the match difficult. (prod.lta.org.uk)

The result was Fery’s second win over Duckworth in August. He had previously beaten him 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(4) in Cincinnati on August 16, turning a hard-fought contest with a deciding-set tiebreak. That sequence should not be overstated as a definitive matchup shift: Friday’s semifinal was curtailed, and there was no completed second set from which to draw a full tactical conclusion. (tennistonic.com)

What can be said is that Duckworth had put together enough tennis to reach the final four, but not enough information is available yet to determine whether the retirement was an isolated interruption or a threat to his major preparation.

A good tournament, with an unfinished conclusion For Duckworth, the immediate priority is straightforward: establish his physical status before the US Open, rather than chase a narrative about momentum. The Winston-Salem result remains a significant competitive return, but the semifinal retirement means the practical benefit of the run will be determined by what follows over the next several days.

At 34, and listed at No. 79 in the match data, Duckworth’s margin is built around first-strike tennis, serving quality and the ability to sustain movement through long hard-court exchanges. Those attributes helped him overturn a first-set deficit against Marozsan. They are also precisely the elements most difficult to assess after a medical timeout and retirement. (tennis.com)

The next confirmed update should therefore be treated as more important than the semifinal score. If Duckworth is able to resume normal preparation, Winston-Salem can still function as a valuable confidence-building week. If not, the retirement will become the central fact of his US Open build-up. At present, the evidence supports concern about readiness, not a conclusion about availability.

Sources Winston-Salem | Results | ATP Tour | Tennis Duckworth flies into Winston-Salem semifinals Arthur Fery reaches first ATP final in Winston-Salem Players | Official Site of the 2026 US Open Tennis Championships - A USTA Event A.Fery beats J.Duckworth - Winston-Salem Open - Winston-Salem 2026 - score James Duckworth vs Arthur Fery · Semifinal · ATP Winston Salem ATP Tour — Winston-Salem results Winston-Salem Open — Arthur Fery and Ignacio Buse to Battle for Title Lawn Tennis Association — Arthur Fery reaches first ATP final Tennis Australia — Duckworth flies into Winston-Salem semifinals