Carlos Alcaraz is through the Wimbledon final for the third year in a row, after defeating Taylor Fritz in four sets on Centre Court.
Alcaraz beat Fritz 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6, to advance to the championship match once again at the All England Club, where he’ll now have the chance to three-peat.
The Spaniard is bidding to become the fifth man in the Open Era to win a third consecutive title in SW19, following Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic.
While Alcaraz has extended his winning streak to 24 matches en route to a sixth Grand Slam final, it’s another near-miss at a major for Fritz, who American tennis legend John McEnroe thinks couldn’t have done much more.
John McEnroe analyses Taylor Fritz’s performance against Carlos Alcaraz
Analysing Fritz’s performance on BBC, McEnroe said: “I think he had the perfect game plan. He had to go big and take chances. He went bigger on his second serve than I have ever seen him.
He was aggressive. He was going huge on his ground strokes, and he has great groundstrokes.
“They were more penetrating, taking more chances, you are going to make more mistakes. I think it’s the best match I have ever seen him play on grass without a doubt.
“I think only a player like Alcaraz could deal with that. I actually think he should play like that more often. He is more dangerous, but Alcaraz is something out of this world.”
John McEnroe says Taylor Fritz played it ‘slightly safe’ towards the end of the match
Fritz had two set points in the fourth set tiebreak, but couldn’t capitalise on the chance to force a fifth against the defending champion.
McEnroe said of the missed opportunity: “He had a couple of set points, and there were a couple of balls he will look back on.
“He had a chance to go bigger, and he played it slightly safe. Sometimes you don’t get away with that when you are playing a guy like this. Most guys, he would have won this set.”
Following his exit from Wimbledon, the world number five will now look ahead to the US Open run-up, as he aims to defend his points from last year’s final appearance at Flushing Meadows.