"Gives me a lot of confidence" - Fritz excited about win over Nadal
ATP
Taylor Fritz admitted that his opening win against Rafael Nadal at the 2022 ATP Finals gave him plenty of confidence.
Fritz wasn't initially supposed to compete at the year-end event this year, as he ended the season ranked ninth in the ATP Race. However, thanks to Carlos Alcaraz's withdrawal, the American player was promoted from the first alternate to one of the players competing.
In his first match, Fritz made use of the quick courts in Turin to defeat Nadal in straight sets. The win over the Spaniard was the American player's first win at the ATP Finals. After beating the 22-time Grand Slam champion, Fritz admitted that the win gave him plenty of confidence.
"It feels great. I'm super happy to just get the chance to play here. It's a much better way of ending my year than how I went out in Paris. It could have been the end of my year. Gives me a lot of confidence to come back, play a really good match, and beat someone like Rafa."
The ATP Finals is an event played in a unique format, which allows players to lose one or two matches in the round-robin stage and still make it to the semi-finals. However, the American player didn't want to rely on that, which is why he wanted to win already his first match.
"Yeah, it's great to be here, even playing this tournament. Then to come out and win is even better. I think coming out first match, especially I wanted first goal to make it out of the group, obviously."
"It was a super important match in terms of that. It would have been a rough spot to lose and feel like I have to win out my next two matches if I want a chance to make it out."
