Here’s a great Brilliant Reader question from Andrew that lines up with some of my thoughts after Carlos Alcaraz beat Taylor Fritz in the Wimbledon semifinal:
I wonder what Taylor Fritz (and, for that matter, the rest of the men's tennis field) is thinking today. Fritz played great tennis and lost. He is very serious about his tennis, a very hard worker and a real student of the game. But Sinner and Alcaraz are both a few years younger than him. And better. Is he, Fritz, frustrated and concerned that he will never win a major (and, thus, replace Alexander Zverev as the best player ever without one)? Or highly motivated, given the match he gave Alcaraz, to improve his game to narrow the gap with the #1 and #2?
These are some of the exact thoughts I had about Fritz after the match, but I would take it a step further because of something that I don’t think the McEnroes or ESPN’s analysts talked about nearly enough:
Carlos Alcaraz did not play very well.
It was an Alcaraz B-game at best. Maybe a B-minus. He served very well, and that’s what matters most at Wimbledon, but his forehand was way off, and his backhand was sporadic, and he didn’t return well except in spots. Alcaraz utterly choked away the second set with a stunning series of errors. If he plays like that against Sinner in the final, he’ll probably lose in straights.
Fritz, meanwhile, I agree with Andrew, was the absolute version of himself. He went for his shots, and he served heroically, and he played on the edge.
And Alcaraz still won in four sets.
How frustrating is that? Fritz is well known for his work ethic and dedication to improvement — his rise is utterly inspiring. He was a prodigy, the world’s No. 1 junior, and at 17, he was already winning Challenger Tour titles. He broke into the Top 50 at age 20 and into the Top 25 the next year. And that’s, more or less, where he stayed. Everyone admired his power game and the way he would grind out there. But he didn’t quite have the all-around game to beat the best players in the world. He didn’t move well enough. He didn’t have the net game.
He made it to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open and Australian Open and got blitzed by Novak Djokovic both times (they have played 10 times and Djoker has won all 10). He made it to the Round of 16 at the French and was taken down by Casper Ruud. He made it to the quarters at Wimbledon last year and was worn down by Lorenzo Musetti.
But he kept improving, kept working. He couldn’t turn himself into an Alcaraz-like mover, but he improved his mobility. He couldn’t develop John McEnroe’s touch at the net, but he became a stronger volleyer. He made it to the U.S. Open Final last year (after a deeply emotional battle with fellow American Frances Tiafoe; maybe the most pressure-packed men’s American tennis match in two decades). Yes, he lost in straight sets to Jannik Sinner, but he had moved himself into the Top 5 in the world.
And at age 27, he’s playing the best tennis of his life.
And it wasn’t good enough even against a subpar Carlos Alcaraz.
What do you do after that? Where does Taylor Fritz go? I guess the answer is pretty simple. He goes back to work.
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