A few moments after his latest defeat to Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz faced up to the statistics, even though he knew they would not be pretty reading. The American had just lost to Djokovic for the 11th time in their 11th meeting and the fact it was his closest yet was no consolation. Not after exiting the US Open at the quarter-final stage, continuing the drought for American men in the men’s singles, or after double-faulting on the third match point and handing Djokovic an escape from an even later night.
There was something else that would haunt Fritz more, and those were the chances he had to take charge of the quarter-final when Djokovic was vulnerable. Fritz may never have a better chance to beat Djokovic at a grand slam, not when his opponent is 38 and openly admitting that he was trying to “survive” in the match for long spells. A 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 may appear convincing, but Djokovic had to scrap and claw his way through most service games.
Fritz did not convert any of his first 10 break-point opportunities. And when he did eventually break Djokovic’s serve, late in the second set, the 24-time grand slam champion re-broke immediately before closing it out.
“The fact that I was 0-10, that’s putting it nicely,” Fritz explained. “I had so many more chances that you’re not going to see on a stat line, because I had so many… I was in points at Love-30, 15-30, 30-All. I was just converting and playing these points just really poorly.”
When assessing what would be required to finally beat Djokovic, Fritz said before the quarter-final that he had to be more efficient when given “looks” at his serve. Djokovic did not serve well and Fritz ended the contest, that was played across almost three-and-a-half hours, with more opportunities than he could have imagined. Djokovic saved five break points alone with serving for the first set, winning the second on a 25-shot rally, then battled through an eight-minute game at the start of the second set where he saved another two.
The difficulty for Fritz came from Djokovic’s second-serve, and the variety and unpredictability that he was able to attack from. Fritz knew the patterns, the softer serves down the middle mixed in with the more aggressive ones out wide to his forehand. He just couldn’t execute. “It’s pretty embarrassing the amount of times that I was sitting on it, waiting for it, and still missed the return,” Fritz said. “I just can’t really let that happen.”
“He was the better player in the second and third set,” Djokovic admitted. “I thought, for my standards, that I wasn’t playing well. I don’t know. I didn’t feel the ball as well as I did feel the ball in the third round.
“It’s one of those days where you just have to grind, you know. You just have to play with your heart and fight. That’s what really gave me the win in the end.”
The way Fritz rallied was admirable, finding a way to take the contest to Djokovic while raising the noise in the Arthur Ashe Arena. But in having to come from two sets down to beat Djokovic, he left himself requiring a miracle. A tight fourth set, one that could have gone either way but fell towards Djokovic, was enough. “Realistically I just can’t come out of those first two sets down two sets to love,” Fritz said.
Fritz would likely have had to beat Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in a row if he was to have won the US Open. At 27, the opportunity to win a grand slam title appears to be getting harder as Alcaraz and Sinner continue to progress and Djokovic remains capable of raising his level.
“At the end of the day, that’s one of the things that makes the great players great,” Fritz said. “They win the big points, and that’s something that I kind of touched on before the match is. I’m going to need to go out and take those points from him. He’s not just going to hand them over to me.”
Ironically, that is exactly what Fritz then did to Djokovic on the third match point. “Realistically I just had one game [in the fourth set] where I just had a chance to break him, which was the last one,” Djokovic said. “You know, the one that gave me the victory, and he gifted me with the double fault.”
Fritz looked tormented as he shook hands with Djokovic at the net, his headband having slumped off his forehead. The losing record is painful, but the opportunities he had to end it will hurt even more.