After winning a title, there are a few things that a player has to do and one of those is to defend it the next year.
In 2022, Taylor Fritz lifted the biggest trophy of his career when he won the Indian Wells. Therefore, he carried a big burden of 1000 ATP ranking points throughout the season that helped him to become the first American in the Top 5 in 14 years but also meant that he can experience a big drop when the Sunshine Double arrives again.
The tall American was confident in his abilities to defend the title despite a very strong field coming to Indian Wells, and despite doing well initially, Fritz lost to Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals of the tournament.
That meant that his spot in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings was in danger as the American was projected to drop to the 10th place already and Frances Tiafoe and Jannik Sinner, who are behind him, both still had a match to play.
While the Italian only needed one win, his compatriot would need to win the title in order to become the American no. 1 and kick Fritz out of the Top 10.
The semifinal day started well for Fritz, or at least for his personal ambitions, as Tiafoe was eliminated by Daniil Medvedev.
In the second semifinal match, it was confirmed that Fritz won't leave the Top 10 as the first-seeded Carlos Alcaraz defeated Sinner and kept him out of the elite ten.
Fritz will now focus on the Miami Open, where he lost in the fourth round last year and so he doesn't defend as significant portion of points.
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