So close, yet so far! For 15 years, American men had been tantalizingly close to reaching a Grand Slam final. Names like James Blake, Mardy Fish, John Isner, and Sam Querrey came close, but the drought persisted. Now, Taylor Fritz ended that streak by reaching the US Open final, snapping an 18-year wait for an American champion at the tournament. However, he fell short to the World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who became the first Italian man to win US Open title.

Coming to other two players in Top 5. World No. 4 Novak Djokovic. He was the only hope for the ‘Big Three’ fans in the 2024 US Open but he was surprisingly defeated in the R3 by Alexei Popyrin. Even the World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz got eliminated in the R2 against Botic van de Zandschulp. So, this was a big chance for Taylor Fritz to make full use of this opportunity. Despite reaching the finals, Taylor Fritz isn’t be too happy with the way he has played at the US Open. Fritz thinks the early exits of Djokovic and Alcaraz opened up the draw more this time. But for what outcome? A heartfelt loss!

During the post-match interview, the 26-year-old said, “Obviously like Carlos and Novak and some people lost early on in the tournament, so it really opened up the draw a lot. You can only really beat who’s in front of you, but I think it’s really positive for me because I don’t feel at any specific point in these two weeks, I don’t feel I was playing amazing tennis. I feel I was playing solid, nothing special.”

He further added that he feels that he hasn’t hit his backhands well enough in this tournament. Although Fritz has hit a total of 86 aces in his seven matches here, he feels even his serve wasn’t up to the mark. However, he feels lucky to still get away with all this and make it to the finals. Yet, disappointed was clearly portrayed on his face.

He further added that beating the Top seeds needs one to bring their best game into display. Fritz was even heard saying, “American fans have been waiting for a men’s champion for a long time, and I feel like I let a lot of people down.” At the same time, he feels there are still a lot of positives from this campaign.

However, some of the fans were a bit disappointed while watching the final match. The way Jannik Sinner secured his second Grand Slam triumph made some of the fans feel it was a bit too “boring” to be a final match. Others claimed it to be a fairly “dull men’s final“. However, Novak Djokovic did extend his support to Taylor Fritz after his disappointing loss to the world number one.

Novak Djokovic shares word of encouragement for Taylor Fritz

Taylor Fritz started his campaign pretty well at the US Open. He comfortably won his first three matches, but his biggest challenges came from the R16. It took him four grueling sets to beat Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev in the R16 and QF, respectively. Then again, in the SF, he was pushed to five sets by his compatriot Frances Tiafoe. So, his struggle was real against some of the top players in the men’s tour.

Later on during the same post-match interview, Taylor Fritz admitted, “I would have had to play a really really great match if I’d have happened to play Novak somewhere else in the draw, but like I said, you can find yourself a little deeper in the draws like quarterfinals and stuff if you play solid tennis. I still think that to beat the top guys, you need to bring your best game.”

Interestingly, so far, Taylor Fritz has met Novak Djokovic nine times in his career, and guess what? He has lost them all. However, Djokovic recently shared a picture of Fritz on his Instagram story with a caption saying, “Well done on a great tournament and first Grand Slam Final.”

Getting praise from the 24-time Grand Slam champion is itself an achievement. Surely, this will make Taylor Fritz feel a little better. What are your thoughts on Fritz’s performance at the 2024 US Open?