Taylor Fritz’s loss extends Grand Slam drought for American men

Taylor Fritz, of the United States, holds the finalist trophy after losing to Jannik Sinner, of Italy, in the men’s singles final of the US Open tennis championships, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

NEW YORK — Taylor Fritz was eager before the US Open final on Sunday, entertaining thoughts of winning his first Grand Slam title — and the first for any American man since Andy Roddick earned the 2003 trophy at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Didn’t happen for Fritz or his country, and the drought continues. Fritz never really produced his best tennis until the third set, and that was only briefly. Top-ranked Jannik Sinner, a 23-year-old from Italy, had something to do with that, of course, and he will leave New York with the championship thanks to a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 victory over the 12th-seeded Fritz.

“Just kind of walking on the court, and just hearing the crowd go crazy, and just kind of soaking in the moment of, ‘I’m walking out to play my match on Ashe in the U.S. Open finals,’ is what I dreamed about my whole life,” said Fritz, a 26-year-old Californian. “It almost got me emotional, but I was just really happy and ready to enjoy the moment.”

READ: Jannik Sinner wins US Open title weeks after doping exoneration

Participating in a major title match for the first time is often difficult for tennis players to process, but Fritz said he wasn’t “overly nervous” and “really expected to come out and play better from the start.”

Instead, he got broken in the very first game, badly missing a smash set up by a short return from Sinner off a 127 mph serve. Fritz smiled sarcastically. He did regroup enough to break back and lead that set 3-2 — before Sinner took its last four games.

Then, from 4-all in the second, Fritz lost the set’s last two games.

And in the third, after firing up the fans by breaking for a 4-3 edge, then holding for 5-3, Fritz lost the match’s last four games.

“If he wins that third, it’s a whole new game,” said Fritz’s coach, Michael Russell. “Crowd behind you; 24,000 people cheering; the energy. You can feel it all the way through your veins.”

But Sinner, whom Russell called “a very complete player,” quickly regained the upper hand.

Russell thought the keys were that Fritz made too many groundstroke errors, particularly on forehands, missed his spots too often on serves and perhaps should have tried to get to the net more than 19 times (he won 13 of those points).

READ: Taylor Fritz outlasts Frances Tiafoe to reach US Open final

“That’s just kind of how it goes, when you’re playing … the best player in the world right now. My ‘Plan A’ is not working. The ‘Plan B’ that I fall back on, would normally be just bringing everything in, being a little bit safer, grinding it out,” Fritz explained. “That works, along with my serve, against a lot of other players. But against him … he’s just going to bully me a little bit too much.”

This capped a breakthrough two weeks for Fritz, who was 0-4 in Slam quarterfinals until now, and American men’s tennis.

He eliminated three guys with a combined six runner-up finishes at majors — Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev and Matteo Berrettini — before defeating good pal Frances Tiafoe in the first U.S. vs. U.S. men’s semifinal at a major since 2005.

That allowed Fritz to be the first man from the United States to get to a Grand Slam singles final since Roddick lost to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009 and first at the U.S. Open since Roddick lost to Federer in 2006. Roddick won the event 21 years ago.

“I know how much work he puts in,” Sinner told the crowd about Fritz during the trophy ceremony, before addressing his opponent directly: “You are doing an amazing job. Congrats to you, Taylor. … It’s so nice to see you on big stages like this.”

Fritz wasn’t convinced he played at his absolute highest level, but he did take advantage of the Week 1 losses by Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz that opened up the draw for others.

“I played very within myself. I don’t think I at any point I was, like, ‘Wow, I’m playing incredible’ or ‘I’m playing out of my mind.’ That’s just extremely reassuring to me that I was able to get to this point, just playing solid tennis,” Fritz said. “I know that there’s still a lot of room for improvement. … (And) I’ve always said: Once I do something once, I just feel a lot more confident in being able to do it again.”