TURIN, Italy — After nearly 74 matches around the world over 11 months, Taylor Fritz has reached the point where there aren’t many players left who can beat him.
The world No. 4 six days after dispatching a furious Daniil Medvedev. Fritz defeated world No. 2 Alexander Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(3) to become the first American in 18 years to play for the title. ATP Tour Finals. Fritz spent most of the final set getting out of trouble, then strengthened his serve and fired a series of clean, efficient forehands to take the tie-break and break Zverev from the inside and finish with a whiplash.
After hiding his feelings for about two and a half hours, Fritz waved his hands and shouted, “Come on!” Said. This caused a roar from the more than 12,000 spectators at the Inalpi Arena. Fritz reached a plateau this summer that no American has seen since George W. Bush’s presidency, as he did at the U.S. Open this summer. In September, he became the first American to reach a US Open final since Andy Roddick in 2006 and the first American to reach a Grand Slam final since Roddick’s 2009 Wimbledon match against Roger Federer.
Andy Fritz became the first ATP Tour Finals finalist in 18 years when Roger Federer finished off James Blake.
“I believed that I belonged and that I was one of the best players,” he said at a press conference. “It is not based on results. “I can feel more about how I’m playing.”
There are American men with brilliant games. There are American men with bigger social media profiles who light up stadiums and provide more Instagram than Fritz. Fritz wins more tennis tournaments.
He has reached the quarterfinals or better in three Grand Slams this year. This, along with titles in Delray Beach, Florida and Eastbourne in the UK, as well as semi-final appearances in Madrid and Shanghai, earned him an invitation to the second final round in three years and a second consecutive appearance in the final four of the tournament. . .
Taylor Fritz’s aggressiveness and resilience led to a great year on the ATP Tour. (Cleve Brunskill/Getty Images)
No wonder. The soft court and the breezeless air of indoor tennis become its strengths. Fritz likes to cut the ball big. Get rid of the sun and wind and eliminate bad shots and he can close his eyes and attack when he gets the chance.
He had a real opponent.
Fritz has now beaten Zverev in four consecutive matches. Three of them (at Wimbledon, the US Open and here) were as tight as a fist, settling for a few points and a break of serve here and there. Tennis is a game of games and Zverev, like Fritz, has been one of the few players he has been able to beat lately. On Friday he eliminated Carlos Alcaraz from the tournament. Still, he has a problem with Fritz, both in terms of himself and the underlying tennis numbers, which suggest a scenario in which Fritz manages to play better against Zverev than the rest of the ATP tournament.
On a scale of 1 to 10 developed by TennisViz and Tennis Data Innovations, Zverev’s serve averaged a 7.5 out of 10 throughout the season, judging by speed, spin, depth and breadth. Zverev’s return rate against Fritz drops to 6.2. It’s not a judgment: Fritz serves better in men’s soccer, especially on indoor hard courts.
Fritz also earns 7.5 points for his winnings during the season, but averaged 7.8 against Zverev. More importantly, Fritz was 8-2 in the last 10 tiebreakers in a serve-and-return battle, where Fritz played 35 of 50 minutes yesterday.
“It’s very competitive,” coach Michael Russell said in an interview Friday in Turin.
“You want to have the racket in your hands in those important moments. He loves them.”
On Saturday, Fritz won the second leg again, scoring 8.8 to Zverev’s 8.2. He was also able to master the consecutive forehands that Zverev uses to wear down his opponents, while using his more aggressive and confident forehand when necessary.
Zverev spent most of the match looking like he had done enough, even after losing the first set. He took the initiative to tie and the score was 2-2 in the third set, with Fritz struggling to carry the ball across the court as he had before, and Zverev looking like he was going for the kill. Fritz’s botched backhand and forehand gave Zverev three break points.
Fritz grabbed two backhands with a great serve before releasing the ball before moving to the front of the court, which is not his favorite area. He was then lucky enough to receive two rare missed backhands from Zverev, who hits the ground as well as anyone in the sport. He held his ground and then took advantage of the German’s well-known gap in the most crucial moments to win a third set tiebreaker that was more than the previous one.
Taylor Fritz has defeated Alexander Zverev four times in a row. (Cleve Brunskill/Getty Images)
Fritz also felt comfortable serving all afternoon, shooting nearly 7-for-10 and winning 82 percent of his points when he did so. When the crucial moments came, especially when he faced those break points, he told himself not to play it safe, but to play aggressively, to try to bombard Zverev when he least expected it.
When it was all over, Zverev did not shy away from the irony of being one of the few players who managed to get the best of Alcaraz, struggling to solve Fritz’s puzzle. In fact, he spoke with Alcaraz this week about how opponents are bothering them.
Alcaraz is very comfortable against Fritz and Medvedev, but can struggle against strong forwards. Zverev won’t be bothered by the speed of Alakaraz or Jannik Sinner, but Medvedev and Fritz are in for a long, boring few days.
“His serve is much better,” Zverev said of Fritz, pointing out the choppy spots that prevent him from creating rhythm. Fritz also got a little more rest, as Zverev played Alcaraz for two hours yesterday afternoon in an emotional and high-stakes duel. Zverev said Friday that he felt like he was “jumping on the ball.” On Saturday, both during warmups and at the beginning of the game, he said he felt empty. His actions seemed unnatural. Fritz, as usual, prevented him from finding his rhythm.
Still, he had his opportunities in the third set, when he seemed to be the better player for long stretches and failed to take advantage of them.
“I did everything better than him, except winning the important moments, break points, tiebreaks,” he said at a press conference.
“This is how you lose the game.”
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Now Fritz’s trick, if you can call it that, will be to find a balance between aggression and execution against the best. It’s no secret which players annoy Fritz. He is 0-12 against Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic and 1-3 against Italian tennis hero Sinner, who hasn’t lost in three years.
After Sinner defeated Kasper Ruud 6-1, 6-2, he will be back in front of the Italian crowd on Sunday, sporting red wigs and singing.
“I think the group stage game was closer than one would think just by looking at the scoreboard,” he said. 6-4, 6-4 very close. He needs a closer.
(Imagen superior: Shi Tang/Getty Images)
