Taylor Fritz stunned one and all with his jaw-dropping 6-3, 7-6(5) victory over Rafael Nadal in Indian Wells final. The American tennis sensation put on an audacious display in the summit clash to defeat the Australian Open champion. In doing so, he lifted the biggest trophy of his career.
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However, things were not in his favor going into the big final. On the morning of the summit clash, Fritz suffered a freak ankle injury while practicing on the center court. The American was in tremendous pain and even screamed out loud. Further, the doctors advised him not to play the final as it may aggravate his injury. However, he turned up for the final and the rest is history!
Taylor Fritz recounts the horrific injury before the Indian Wells final
The American was practicing on the center court before the final. Speaking on the turn of events before his match against Nadal, he said, “It was such a roller coaster… yeah so walking around, oh my god no way we actually have the footage. There was no audio but like I literally screamed out loud and I was actually trying to act tough because we do have the cameras here. I probably would have screamed louder if it wasn’t, it probably looked like I was overreacting but like could have possibly been like the worst, one of the worst pains I’ve ever felt.”
Comparing the severity of this injury to the one suffered at the French Open, Fritz said, “Not even close. This is so sharp and I just, I’m so upset, literally so upset here because like I think that’s it for me.”
Further, he added, “Today was an emotional rollercoaster. I thought it was fine because I don’t know I knew I tweaked it yesterday but I have these things happen all the time and then I’m just better the next day.”
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The win over Nadal has enabled Fritz to move up by seven places on the ATP rankings. He is currently ranked 13th in the world.
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Fritz will next play at the Miami Open. Handed a bye in the first round, he’ll play the winner of the match between Botic van de Zandschulp and a qualifier in the second round.