Taylor Fritz
Fritz says Grand Slam final run is ‘repeatable’
American reflects positively on his two weeks in New York
September 09, 2024
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Taylor Fritz up to fifth spot in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin after his run to the US Open final
By ATP Staff
Fresh from the experience of his first Grand Slam final, Taylor Fritz is confident that it won’t be his last.
Despite his failed quest to become the United States’ first Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick triumphed at Flushing Meadows in 2003, the Californian believes that he is capable of similar deep runs in the future.
“It is a great feeling to have gotten to this point, knowing that I’m playing well, but I’m playing very within myself, and I feel like it’s repeatable,” he shared.
Fritz fell to World No. 1 Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 after a strong run to his first major final, that included wins over Top 10 stars Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud.
“I think the biggest thing is that I played solid this week, but I played very within myself. I don’t think I at any point, was, like, wow, I’m playing incredible, or I’m playing out of my mind,” he said.
“I know that there’s still a lot of room for improvement. And something I’ve said throughout my entire career, whether it’s when I won my first ATP point or I won my first challenger or I made my first round of 16 or whatever it is, I’ve always said once I do something once, I just feel a lot more confident in being able to do it again.”
Fritz was quick to praise Sinner, who now leads the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series 2-1. Sinner dominated the match, leaving Fritz no opportunity to stage a comeback.
“He’s the best player in the world right now. My plan A is not working. The plan B that I fall back on would normally be just like bringing everything in, being a little bit safer, grinding it out,” he said.
“That works, along with my serve, against a lot of other players, but against him, I tried to kind of bring it down, not be as aggressive, and he’s just gonna bully me a little bit too much.”
He also acknowledged that Sinner was a significantly improved player since they first played each other in the round of 16 at Indian Wells in 2021. “I could find myself in a lot of return games just off of his first serve. I felt like I could get myself in points off of his first serve every time. Then it was much easier to hurt him from the ground, as well. So he’s much faster, a lot better out of the corners. His serve is really good now.”
Fritz said that he wasn’t overwhelmed by playing in a Grand Slam final, claiming that he was more nervous for the all-American semi-final with Frances Tiafoe on Friday night.
“I was very, nervous going into the semi-final. I didn’t feel anywhere near as nervous going into this match as I did in the semis,” Fritz said.
“So I thought emotionally, it’s obviously the US Open final, I want to win it, it’s a really big moment. But I felt like emotionally I was going to be okay, because I knew it wasn’t going to be as bad as it was before my semi-final match, and I found a way to get through that.”
The 26-year-old beat No. 8 Casper Ruud and No. 4 Alexander Zverev on his way to the final. He was happy with his best run at a major but also showed his disappointment and bittersweet feelings after the loss.
“There’s obviously a lot of positives, and when I get some time to cool down, then I’ll be happy about the fact that I made it to the finals and stuff like that.
“But right now I’m pretty disappointed in how a lot of things on the court (went), how I played, how I hit certain shots. It sucks. I’m pretty upset with how I played. I feel like I almost let a lot of people down.”
Fritz will now focus on representing Team World at the Laver Cup in Berlin from 20-22 September. He has a 44-17 win/loss record for the season. He also jumped to fifth place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin as he looks to return to the Nitto ATP Finals for the second time.
