Moments After His Lacklustre Efforts, American Tennis Star Taylor Fritz Finds Fault With Cautious US Open Move as ‘Awful’ Novak Djokovic Complaint Made

America’s top seed, Taylor Fritz, did not lose a set in his journey to the quarter-finals of the US Open. But when he played the World’s best, Novak Djokovic, the American No.1, faced the same fate as his previous rounds’ opponents. Fritz’s straight-set loss to the Serb, who despises heat, shocked the first-time quarter-finalist at the Flushing Meadows. The four hardcourt titles winner hardly has had trouble playing in the heat, but the situation at the Arthur Ashe Stadium finally got on his nerves.

Fritz committed several errors in his quarter-final match, which gave the Serb an edge in the 36-degree heat. After losing the battle, the 25-year-old seemed to be playing the blame game as he evaded responsibility for his loss.

Taylor Fritz condemns the move of organizers to reduce the heat

The American finds fault with the authorities’ decision, who decided to close half the stadium’s roof. Djokovic requested the organizers to schedule his match in the evening or night session, but his appeal was denied. But the tournament officials compensated for it by closing half the roof to reduce the heat. The half-closed stadium, packed with the crowd, became humid, as there was little space left for air to circulate.

Talking about the heat in the post-match conference, Fritz said, ”I feel like it’s just really humid, just feel like it just drains you. Didn’t help that they partially closed the roof with that, because I think that made it less hot but a lot more humid inside the stadium.” The two-time major quarter-finalist added, ”I don’t feel like I’m ever bothered too much by the heat. I don’t think it was, like, awful.” Fritz felt that after playing physical and long points at the beginning of the match, the humidity hit him, and his performance went downhill.

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Though the American blamed the humidity for his poor showing, he also failed to convert a lot of breakpoints, and Djoker yet again created history at Flushing Meadows. Innumerable mistakes on Fritz’s part and failure to take advantage when Djoker committed errors made it easy for the Serb to win the match despite the scorching heat. The Serb has already bagged 2 majors this year, and he crafted a record at each one.

Novak Djokovic’s historic 2023 season awaits more

The 23-time major champion will reclaim his World No.1 ranking at the end of the tournament. He is extending his own record of claiming the coveted place for a grand total of 390 weeks. The Djoker equaled the record of Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, who had the most major wins in the ATP. The Serb’s French Open title made his tally equal to Serena Williams‘ record of 23 major titles.

Djokovic also broke the record of Roger Federer by making his 47th semi-final appearance at a major. The Serb has also won every US Open quarter-final he has played. He remains unbeaten in the semi-finals of the last major of the year since Kei Nishikori defeated him in 2014. Ben Shelton after triumphing over fellow compatriot Frances Tiafoe will play Djokovic in the semi-final.

If the Serb wins his next match, he will be reaching the finals of all the Slams for the 3rd time in his career. If he wins, he will become the oldest ATP player to win a Slam and bag the record of winning the most majors in the Open Era – equaling Margaret Court’s 24 Grand Slam titles.

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