Taylor Fritz recently played in the US Open final, and losing left a big mark on him, which prompted him to adopt some unhealthy habits after the loss.
Decompressing is necessary for any athlete, especially tennis players whose season is incredibly long and basically never stops. The only proper rest tennis players ever get is when they're unfortunately injured or when they retire.
If neither of those things happens, then they're kind of never out of the sport. It's always part of their daily schedule one way or another. That can get tiring, and tennis players often need to find ways of dealing with that.
For Fritz, it happens in a couple of ways. Some of those ways are not healthy nor productive, and he unfortunately fell back into some of those after the disappointing loss at the US Open.
Fritz played his best-ever Grand Slam event recently in New York at the US Open, where he played superb tennis to make the final. In the final, he faced Jannik Sinner, and he thought he had a chance to win the title.
Speaking ahead of the final, Fritz admitted that he had a decent shot at winning it despite being the underdog. It didn't quite materialize like that because the American followed in the footsteps of all those beaten by Sinner before – he got overwhelmed.
At times, he played some competitive tennis, but overall, he proved no match for Sinner, who is the World No. 1 player on the ATP Tour for a reason. After losing that final, Fritz decompressed by eating whatever he felt like and playing lots of video games.
He was a guest on the Nothing Major podcast, hosted by fellow Americans John Isner, Jack Sock, and Sam Querrey. On the podcast, he discussed what he's been up to since the US Open loss.
"To be honest, I feel probably worse than I would have expected to feel if you told me I was making a Slam final. I have been sitting at my desk, playing video games like 12 hours a day, eating pretty unhealthy. Honestly really just destructive habits when I am by myself after a tournament."
Losing in a Grand Slam final was obviously challenging for the American player, but the weather also didn't allow him to distract himself with tennis. The California native who resides in Florida admitted that the weather has been crazy, so he didn't practice too much.
It's been difficult for him in the past few weeks, and the conditions didn't make it any easier.
"It's been so insanely hot in Florida right now like it's so hot. I got to the point at the end of practices where like swinging the racquet was making me just absolutely gassed. Like I was about to pass out."
This week, Fritz is in Berlin, where he will try to forget the US Open disappointment. He won't have to deal with the weather either, as he will play indoors at the Laver Cup as part of Team World.
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