Top American man says he wants to beat Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic
It’s an oddity of tennis that, more often than not, the loser of a match is not interviewed immediately afterwards. So Taylor Fritz didn’t get to discuss his recent loss to Denis Shapovalov in Dallas until the media day of the next event he played– The Delray Beach Open.
There, remarkably, Fritz had total recall of minutiae: “He played a very good game to break me in the second set. I had two break points to get back, both times he hit balls just barely catching the line to save the break points, then served incredibly well in the 3rd set. I had love-30 at 4-5 and 3 second serve points in a row, and that was my opportunity…” This goes on.
A few things here. Fritz obviously has a crackerjack of a working memory. He says his mind keeps a “notepad.” Secondly, he’s a bit hard on himself. I checked– Shapo, a lefty, hit a spin-and-speed mix of three exceptional serves on those points.
A little about Fritz, before we get to his game. An admitted introvert, he’s intelligent, analytical and opinionated. If you ask him a question, he’ll do his level best to answer straightforwardly, without agendas. He gives his work life everything he’s got, then in his precious few moments of downtime, allows himself fast food and video games. Raise your hand if you can relate.
His belief in himself appears to be an ascending work in progress. He says the U.S. needs a new men’s Grand Slam champion and “among the group we have, I really want to be the one to do that.”
But can he?
What Is Taylor Fritz’s World Ranking?
Ranked a career-high #4 in the world, Fritz made his first Grand Slam final at last year’s U.S. Open. He’s got the guy just ahead of him, Alexander Zverev, basically figured out. He’s won 5 of their last 6 meetings. That leaves Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz– and the GOAT Novak Djokovic. Garden-variety losses on tour happen, but he says “it is just those guys” that he feels he needs to work especially hard to crack.
The question is, to accomplish that, does he spend his time sharpening and leaning into what he does well, like serving, or does he need to make meaningful changes in other areas to beat Sinner, Alcaraz and Djokovic?