Taylor Fritz responds to criticism and explains his evolution

Taylor Fritz“The season has been quite satisfying so far. The American player hoped to win his first Grand Slam title at the World Cup US openwhere he played a great tournament and also defeated Alexander Zverev and his compatriot Frances Tiafoe, but had to lose to Jannik Sinner in the final.

Fritz took full advantage of the support from his fans in New York, getting excited and playing his best tennis for large parts of the tournament. Although he suffered a setback on the eve of the match against the number 1 in the world, the American player was convinced that he had the right weapons to shock the entire world and win his first Major.

Taylor has often surprised everyone when he got the chance to play in the US, as evidenced by his astonishing victory at Indian Wells in 2022. The US Open final against Sinner degenerated into a one-way match, in which the Italian top player managed to prevent his opponent from playing comfortably.

Frits committed a large number of unforced errors and eventually conceded three sets to nil, only reacting when the situation was now in jeopardy. After that match, the 2022 Indian Wells champion admitted that he was very disappointed and had not touched the racket for several days.

Fritz is a different player

The American ace won his first match in Shanghai in return for Terence Atmane and he will face the Japanese ace Watanuki in the next round. During the press conference, Taylor talked about his evolution as a player: “Last year, when I was here, I also played at a very high level. I think I’m in the last three years of my career I’ve been a different playerBut obviously I’m coming into this year with confidence and in a great position going into the race, hoping to finish the year strong.”

The feeling is that Fritz has to go one step further technically and mentally in order to become a real top player and win a Grand Slam title. Recently, the 2024 US Open runner-up also spoke about the controversies surrounding the ATP calendar. The complaints had started with the words of Carlos Alcaraz And Alexander Zverevwhich had given rise to reactions from some colleagues and insiders.

“I agree that it is difficult for the tour to shorten the schedule if players are just playing Exos to fill the time, and I have seen many people criticize some players asking for a shortened season because they are going to play Exos” – he explained. “I don’t understand that part of the argumentbecause playing an exo versus a tour event doesn’t compare in terms of burnout – physically and especially mentally. A tour event can consist of more than five days of flat out playing and getting mentally dialed in to all the things on and off the field, versus an exo showing up, having some fun and being entertained for a game or two. You don’t have to get everything out of your body and there is absolutely no mental fatigue or stress.

In many ways an exo is a lot like a rest week and should not be compared 1:1 to a tour event. I don’t expect non-players to fully understand what I mean by this because it’s difficult to judge the mental and physical fatigue that playing tour weeks brings when you’re not part of it, but I would fully expect players to understand what I mean by this” – he added.

Some regrets

Taylor was one of the headliners of the 2024 edition of the Laver cupwhich took place just over two weeks ago at the Uber Arena in Berlin. Team World is close to a third win in a row against Team Europe, but Carlitos Alcaraz was decisive on the last day. After winning the doubles with Casper Ruud, the four-time Grand Slam champion defeated Fritz in the final singles match.

The defeat in the final at the US Open was very bitter for the American champion: “Carlos, Novak and others lost early and that opened the draw. But in the end, you can only beat the opponent on the other side of the net. But it’s positive, yes. I’m in the final without feeling like I played my best tennis during this tournament. It was solid, but not exceptional. The backhand was not as good as normal. Yes, maybe tournaments are more open. It doesn’t seem like you have to play great tennis to get far in the paintings, but Carlos and Novak were gone. If I had to play Novak, I would have had to be a really great tennis player. But if you just play solidly, you can aim for a quarter-final. But to beat the best nothing changes, you must always do your best.”