It has been more than two decades since an American man won the US Open. As years have passed and styles have changed, at no other point has that ignominious record felt like ending than in today’s aggressive-baseline era. Seven Americans are currently in the world’s top 50 and four of them in the top 20; thanks to their upbringing in the American school of tennis, built around strong serves and flat, powerful groundstrokes that are effective on fast hard courts.
The US women’s contingent has produced Major champions consistently, and the current generation of them continues to perform. 2023 champion Coco Gauff and last year’s finalist Jessica Pegula both rolled into the second week in New York.
But the men have failed to live up to the billing. Among the much-hyped contingent at this year’s final Major, Taylor Fritz, the highest-ranked yet still under the radar, remains the last man standing. His steadiness, not just at this tournament but on the tour for the last few years overall, has been rewarded with an earlier-than-ideal encounter against the greatest-ever.
Fritz defeated promising Czech Thomas Machac 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 with remarkable ease late on Sunday, shortly before Novak Djokovic, yet to hit his heights but improving with every match, dominated Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets himself to set up an 11th encounter against the American fourth seed in the US Open quarterfinals on Tuesday. Djokovic has won each of the previous 10.
But Fritz has good reason to back himself to overturn that one-sided record and announce himself to the world. For all of his success on tour — he reached the US Open final last year — Fritz is still missing the one result that would charge his career, to get him to be considered an equal among the sport’s elite. Facing an off-colour Djokovic in front of an expectant, raucous home crowd in New York may well be the match that lights that spark.
Coming into his home Major, despite his career-high World No. 4 ranking, the spotlight was never really on Fritz. Instead, headlines were taken by the rising 22-year-old Ben Shelton, who had won the tuneup in Toronto and made his top 10 debut. An hour after Shelton was forced to retire from his third round due to a shoulder injury, Frances Tiafoe, a two-time semifinalist in New York who is charismatic off the court and showman-like on it, was knocked out too. It dealt a blow to American hopes to have two ardent crowd pleasers knocked out together, but the most quietly consistent of the pack remains alive.
What Fritz lacks in sparkle, he makes up in stability. It’s a trait that perhaps even makes him a bit boring, a stylistic deterrent to the New York crowds that have been fed on a healthy diet of top-level American sports. But it has allowed him to build a resume of consistent results.
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Taylor Fritz belongs to the generation that succeeded the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic troika and preceded the Sinner-Alcaraz duopoly: the one that never quite lived up to the hype. (AP Photo)
One-dimensional but clear-minded
The American 27-year-old belongs to the generation that succeeded the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic troika and preceded the Sinner-Alcaraz duopoly: the one that never quite lived up to the hype. But he doesn’t have the volatility of Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, or the combustibility of Stefanos Tsitsipas. One-dimensional he may be, but there is a clear-mindedness behind his strategies that can be commended.
He bases them around a phenomenal serve that is powerful and versatile. On top of hardly ever having a bad serving day, he has a dominant flat forehand that is tailor-made for hard courts, the ball coming right into the strike zone for his unusual grip. He dictates patterns with those two weapons; through them, he has stayed in the top 5 of the rankings throughout the year, winning two titles and reaching the Wimbledon semifinal, where he gave Alcaraz a scare.
But the predictability can unravel pretty quickly. It is why he was routinely dismantled by Sinner in straight sets in the final in New York last year. It is why Djokovic has always had his number. An elite returner like the Serb can nullify his serve, and a baseline problem-solver like him can read the forehand with ease.
But when he is not on top of his game, those are all areas that have caused him problems this year. And the 24-time Major winner may have looked solid after dominating Struff late on Sunday — an improvement from his first two victories that resembled a trudge — but teething problems persist. He has needed a medical timeout in each of his four matches this past week. His serving numbers are off: his second serve is both slower and less accurate than usual. There are long exchanges in the matches when Djokovic rushes his groundstrokes, almost looking too eager to avoid long rallies that will leave him gassed. Match fitness and match sharpness have both been suspect.
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All of this suggests Tuesday’s encounter will be a real opportunity for Fritz. This is exactly the kind of victory that he needs for his confidence and stature to rise. Will he rise to the challenge or let the American title charge whimper again?
