In September, Jannik Sinner shattered the dreams of millions of American fans at the US Open. Despite giving his all and having the crowd on his side, Taylor Fritz was defeated by Sinner in the final in NY. Fritz was left dejected by that loss, and he even apologized to the fans after the match. “I know you’ve been waiting for an (American) champion for a long time, so I’m sorry I couldn’t get it done this time..” said Fritz at that time. However, with every defeat comes a valuable lesson. It gives a chance to rebuild, a chance to restart! What did Taylor Fritz learn from the US Open, though?

Today (November 8) marks the exact two months since that epic final encounter at the 2024 US Open. However, Taylor Fritz is now in Turin. He’s preparing himself to step onto the court against some of the finest of the sport. When we talk about the finest, the first name that comes to our mind is the current world number one, Jannik Sinner! As things stand as of now, Taylor Fritz will face the local hero, Jannik Sinner, in one of his three matches during the group stage of the 2024 ATP Finals. These two have faced each other three times in their careers so far, and currently, Sinner leads the H2H against Fritz by 2-1. What lessons has Taylor Fritz learned from their previous encounter at the US Open?

While answering this question at the press conference in Turin, Fritz said, “I don’t really think I learned too much in particular from the US Open final, I think it’s a lot of…obviously Jannik, he had I mean had an amazing year. He’s the best player in the world. So, there’s I mean a ton of things that he does amazing, but I think when I look back at that match, I think I focus more on just a lot of things that I’d have liked to do better. And if I can do those things better then, I think then maybe I’ll start to see things that I can learn from the match and take away.” Jannik Sinner defeated Taylor Fritz by 6-3,6-4,7-5 in that match.

If we take a look back at their season, Sinner has won 7 titles this season, and guess what? Two out of those are Grand Slam triumphs (AO and the US Open). On the other hand, Fritz has won just 2 titles this season. Overall, if we consider his long runs in previous tournaments, it has been a decent season for Taylor Fritz too. Can he now end the year on a high note? The American star stated that he’s very much excited to play against the best players in the world in this iconic tournament. 

Further sharing his thoughts on Sinner, Taylor Fritz heaped praise on the Italian’s consistency this season. He also added, “I would say the most impressive thing is that he hasn’t played a bad match. He’s just been really solid all year.” Fritz highlighted how Sinner has made a massive improvement in his serve over the last few months. Time will tell if he can take his revenge on Sinner from the US Open final in Turin or not! However, before facing Sinner, Taylor Fritz will first have to overcome the Russian hurdle, Daniil Medvedev, in his first match. What’s his thought on this tournament featuring some of the best in the world? 

Taylor Fritz is excited to kick-start his campaign at the 2024 ATP Finals

This is Taylor Fritz‘s second appearance at the ATP Finals. He made his debut in 2022, and Fritz defeated Rafael Nadal in his first group-stage match in that tournament. It was his first win over a top-3 player. However, he was shown the exit door from that tournament by Novak Djokovic, later in the semis. Looking at the form he has been in this season, Fritz will be keen to improve upon his previous results at this tournament. However, the road will surely be full of challenges. How is he looking forward to this mega event?

Taylor Fritz has now also become the first American singles player to qualify multiple times for the ATP Finals since Andy Roddick! According to Taylor Fritz, “It’s obviously different from any other tournament because you are guaranteed to play three matches. You can lose your first match and still get out of the group. You lose a match, you do everything after the match like you just won because you have to go be ready to play another one again, potentially the next day. It’s really cool in that aspect.” He will face Medvedev in the first match and the Russian currently has a fine edge of 1-0 over the American in the H2H scoreline. What does Fritz have to say about his next match?

Playing against a top opponent like Daniil Medvedev in the first match is always going to be challenging and even Taylor Fritz knows that too! He said that he needs to be at his “best level” to stand a chance in this epic encounter. While speaking about Medvedev, he added, “Daniil is obviously very awkward [to play] because he slows down the speed of the match a lot with how he plays and how he hits the ball. He doesn’t play with a lot of spin or lift for you to work off of.”

Having already played in this tournament two years back, it’ll be interesting to see if he has already learned some lessons from that campaign. If he can make a good start in this tournament, then he’ll surely gain some confidence before facing Jannik Sinner in the later stages of the tournament.