Taylor Fritz Knows Your Pain of Waiting, Because He Feels it Too.
Now, He's Looking to Fix it Himself.
This is Part I of a III part series about US Mens Tennis, if you like this story, please like, share and comment, so I get motivated to write part II :) Happy Reading!
The mint colored acrylic lays a top the asphalt court where dreams become moments which turn into memories. It catches his body as he drops to one knee— his eyes don the look of unbelieving desperation. Above him, the sky— blue, with white clouds streaking its canvas. When its dark, stars hide beneath its air-polluted light, but today, at 3:00pm in Queens, the star lays on the green court, in broad daylight, for everyone to see.
A few moments later he is on a podium, holding a trophy and smiling at the flashing lights that will freeze the moment forever. The trophy reflects the faces of those behind the flashes, they don’t know this will be the last time in 21 years that an American man will win the US Open, or any grand slam for that matter. For in this moment, ‘Andy Roddick’ has just been newly etched into the silver surface, a thought of when the next name that wears the same flag will be carved into the metal, fails to cross a single mind of the 24,000 present in Arthur Ashe Stadium that day.
Until the years become decades, and the decades feel like centuries.
It was right at the edge. That tipping point that poured everything all over. Roddick won before all hell broke loose, before grand slam tennis became a 3 man sport. Full of spectacle and dominance, but unexpectedness, improbability? That was never the case when the 3 big three were in the draw.
Federer came first, 1 in 2003, then 3 in ‘04, ‘06 and ‘07. At that point Rafael Nadal started to take the ones in between, usually in the month of May on the red dirt that accepted his courtship.
In 2008 a new kid on the block began to poke his face into the fun, soon he would take over. And long after Federer and Nadal peaked then vallied, Djokovic plateaued, right at the number 1 spot, for 428 weeks. He still lives there, at the top, only now, at age 37, his eminence beginning to fade.
Now we live waiting, with signs of overtakers coming from Italy, Spain, Germany. But peeking just below the top 10, a man lays in the wings— patient, and hopeful. Across from his name lies a flag that has been hoisted as champion in every sport, every year, on every biggest stage across the world. He longs to bring its glory back to tennis.
It’s only a matter of time— isn’t it?
Beneath the rays of the California sun, Taylor Fritz hoists a trophy of his own. Its quite massive, and means more to him that most other trophies would, regardless of size. Fritz grew up in Southern California, raised by the shoreline of crashing San Diego waves. Each year, he would attend the tournament for whose trophy he was now raising above his giddy grin. Winning Indian Wells was Taylor Fritz’s most accomplished moment of his professional tennis career to date. Almost nothing will ever mean more to him.
Almost.
Fritz is among the oldest, most seasoned players in this new generation of hope in US Men’s Tennis. He’s been at this a while, since he was 17— punching what seems like an impenetrable wall with hopes of cracks that will lead to holes and the billowing down of the whole goddamn thing.
Cracks have been made, walls collapsing have not.
Since his debut in 2015, Fritz has won 8 singles titles, 5 after his ATP 1000 win at Indian Wells, and none higher than an ATP 500. The farthest he has gone at a grand slam is the quarterfinals, reaching them at the Australian Open this year, Wimbledon in 2022 and 2024 and the US Open in 2023. He has 23 wins over top 10 opponents over the course of his career. Only 2 of them coming at grand slam events, and both taking place this year.
Only 10 men have won grand slams that were not named Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, or Novak Djokovic since 2003. 10 men in 79 chances. The other 69 grand slams that have ridden through Australia, Paris, England, and New York have always otherwise been handed to the Swede, the Spaniard or the Serbian the past 20 years.
This makes Fritz’s lack of the feat more forgivable it seems. And he himself has faired better against most of the big three than others. He only played Roger Federer twice, losing both times, while facing Nadal 4 times and going 2-2 against him. No you see, Fritz’s thorn in his side, his true roadblock from good to great comes of his unflappable ability to fall at the hands of Novak Djokovic time and time again.
He has faced him 9 times in his career. He has never won once.
There are have been matches with glimmers of hope. Take for instance his most recent meeting with him at the Australian Open in January of this year, he had lost the first set in a tie break then went on to winning the second set 6-4 before losing 6-2 6-3 to him in the quarterfinals. Or what might have been his greatest fight against Novak in his career, 2021 quarterfinals at the AO, when he down two sets to love before crawling back to even for the 5th set with the crowd largely behind him, before the nationwide COVID-19 curfew mandate sent everyone home— thus crushing his momentum and losing 6-2 in the final set.
Every time he has faced Novak Djokovic since 2021, it has been in a semifinal or quarterfinal match. And every time, he just can’t do enough. And you can see it. You can see the pain, of the inevitable hammer starting to fall creep into the frustrations on his face. It’s as if he knows that it’s happening again, and he can’t do anything about it. That gear he just can’t find the switch to, fumbling around in the dark without a light, is leaving him helpless to the inevitable defeat.
Now he can wait it out— which might be his best plan of action. Just tread water year in and year out, maintain a decent enough ranking and competitive spirit until the rock in his shoe retires, and he doesn’t have to deal with him anymore.
But at some point, teeth begin to grind in the middle of night. Sheets become restless and tempers become short when you realize that the success, the legend of your career lies at the hands of one man who just owns you. At some point you become pissed off enough to change. Pissed off enough to remember you can do something about it, because you are the one taking it. At some point, you come to your senses.
Taylor Fritz will not win a grand slam until he beats Novak Djokovic because tennis has a flair for the dramatic. The brutality of the sport will force him to face the demon he has been sentenced to be tortured by, and they only way he can reach the promised land, is to part the sea lying in front of it.
Tennis, 5 set mens grand slam tennis, is only for those with the strength in their heart to bear its heartbreak. Fritz has broken enough, now he needs to make amends. All he needs to do, is use the pain of the past.
This is Part I of a III part series about US Mens Tennis, if you like this story, please like, share and comment, so I get motivated to write part II :) Happy Reading!
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Enjoyable as always. Looking forward to part 2.