NEW YORK — Ahead of Wimbledon, Taylor Fritz said men’s tennis is more open now than it was in the Big Three era.
“I could play unbelievably well with just one of them,” he said of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
“We were younger and not as good as we are now. They had a hard day and we hoped you had a good day,” Fritz said. “Nowadays, whoever makes it to the top 15 is whoever is better.
“It’s exciting for all of us, knowing that we only have two weeks or 10 days of really high-level tennis to play and we just have to make the most of it.”
This US Open proved Fritz right and wrong. Early exits by Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz gave hope to the pursuers, but the tournament ended in a status quo, with world No. 1 Yannick Sinner beating Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 to win his second Grand Slam of the year.
The other two majors in 2024 were won by 21-year-old Alcaraz, and he and 23-year-old Sinner have won five of the last six Grand Slams. They are playing at the sharp end of the majors with the efficiency of the Big Three, and they are still quite young.
But their dominance feels different to the rest of the locker room. After Francis Tiafoe lost to Fritz in the semifinals on Friday, he said the tournament had done a “huge” job of showing the best of the rest that winning a Grand Slam is within reach. “It definitely shows that it’s possible,” he said. “The game is open. Even with Alcaraz and Sinner and the others, it’s not the same.”
Alexander Zverev, who is ranked two places above Alcaraz but has yet to win a major title like Wimbledon, expressed similar sentiments ahead of Wimbledon.
Part of the sentiment comes from the fact that Sinner and Alcaraz, despite winning most of the Slams, are not yet at the point where they can reach the semifinals or finals of every major tournament. Alcaraz showed that here, when he was eliminated in the second round. Djokovic still has tremendous talent, but he has been more inconsistent, providing a glimmer of hope in the field after his worst Grand Slam season since 2017 (and his second-worst since 2009).
Fritz said on Sunday that it was encouraging to have made it to the final without playing a game. That well.
“I think it’s been really positive for me because at no point in the last two weeks… I didn’t feel like I played amazing tennis,” he said. “I’m probably a little bit more open. I don’t think I need to play incredible to go deep in a tournament and be competitive.”
“When I’m playing good tennis,” Taylor Fritz said, “I think that’s good enough to win.” (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Players like Fritz haven’t built up scar tissue with Alcaraz and Cinner like the Big Three. Even if they’re losing to them, they at least feel like they have a chance to win.
In the Big Three, players like Fritz went out with hope rather than expectation. Fritz, on the other hand, said before facing Sinner, “I feel like I’m going to go out there and play really well and win. When I play good tennis, I think that’s enough to win.”
In the end, Sinner proved too strong. Fritz later admitted: “I think I can go deeper into the quarterfinals and such if I play solid tennis (now). I still think I have to play my best to beat the best players.”
And that’s the problem. If a player like Fritz is going to break through and win a Slam, he’ll probably still have to face Sinner, Alcaraz or Djokovic. And while this tournament has shown that non-elite players can have a better chance of making the quarterfinals, semifinals or finals, none of those players have recorded a breakthrough win over one of the top three.
Djokovic’s winner, Alexei Popyrin, is a step or two below his main rivals, while Botic van der Zansschulp, who beat Alcaraz, is also unlikely to be a Grand Slam leader anytime soon.
But Fritz will be playing a slightly different game at this tournament. He said after his loss to Sinner that he can only win what’s in front of him, and the way he navigated a very stressful and slightly strange semifinal against his close friend and teammate Tiafoe on Friday seemed to have boosted his confidence.
There was always a competition between those two and the rest of the American players to see who would be the first to reach a Grand Slam final. Fritz did it, and he did it without playing his best, which bodes well for him heading into the Australian Open in January.
But on Sunday, Fritz reminded us that he’s still a long way from the final stage. He said his Plan B works for most players, but not for the best. He knows he needs to add more to his game to get to the next level.
The path to the semi-finals and finals is getting easier, but as long as Alcaraz and Sinner are performing well, the pursuers still have a long way to go.
(Top photo: Kena Betancur/AFP)
