Taylor Fritz is currently steaming through the competition in Montreal, but has levelled a flurry of issues that he is still struggling to deal with.
It would have been hard to tell if he had not divulged that information though, given how comprehensive his first two wins have been.
First facing Roberto Carballés Baena, he brushed the Spaniard aside before knocking out the last-remaining Canadian from the draw in Gabriel Diallo.
This marked a repeat of their Wimbledon showdown, which lasted over five enthralling sets. Taylor Fritz was in a cutthroat mood last night though, unwilling to get dragged into a dogfight against the big-serving youngster.
However, even after that 6-4, 6-2 win, he took time to outline his personal issues.
Taylor Fritz admits he’s struggling with the Canadian Open conditions
Speaking to reporters, he spoke at length about the Canadian Open conditions and how he is struggling to adapt.
“To be honest, I feel like it’s like everything since being here,” he began. “Yesterday was the first practice I had since being here that I actually felt like I could like, genuinely, I felt like I knew where the ball was gonna go off my racket.
“Like, I’ve been having an incredibly hard time just putting the ball in the court. Typically, when I’m missing shots, I know exactly why I’m missing. I know what I did wrong.
“Like the first couple of days I was here and even in my first round match, there are balls going ten feet long that feel exactly the same as the one that was just right before it went in. So I just felt like in general, the conditions are… It’s been really hard to just play good tennis. I think there’s a lot of like ugly tennis, there’s a lot of people double-faulting, a lot of mistakes.
“I think it’s two things. I think these balls are for sure the hardest balls to control that we play with all year at the Wilson US Opens, and they’re not bad. It’s just the balls that we’ve been playing with on tour for the last couple of years consistently the most. They’re just really soft and like more dead.
“So, you know, they slow down off the bounce. They hold on your strings longer. There’s just, like a more soft dead ball that we play with.
“So now you play with these, they shoot off your racket, they jump off the court faster, and then this court is very fast compared to, I thought DC was pretty fast. This is faster coming through the court even more. So it’s tough to control for sure.
“Someone hits a really big, flat ball into you. It’s tough to just play back into the court.”
Taylor Fritz is looking like a real threat for the Canadian Open title
Despite what he claims, Fritz is looking really strong after just two matches in Montreal.
And, with Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner all absent from the Canadian Open, a real opportunity is brewing for someone like the top-ranked male American to secure this elite title.
Against Diallo, his serve actually left a little to be desired, only managing to get 54% of his first serves in.
However, when it did go in, he won it 88% of the time and faced just a single break point.
If he can gain a little more consistency, which perhaps might come with more time on these courts and with these balls, then there are few in the draw left to trouble him.
