Taylor Fritz contested his maiden Grand Slam final at this year's US Open, but he didn't win, as he was beaten by Jannik Sinner in three sets, which left him quite disappointed.
Fritz was very confident heading into the US Open final. While he understood that he was the underdog going up against a Grand Slam champion and reigning world number one, the American said before the final that he thought he would play well and give himself a chance to win the match.
At times, he certainly did play well, but he didn't play well long enough to trouble Sinner too much. It was, after all, a straight-sets win for the Italian. After the final, Fritz spoke to the media and admitted that he was very disappointed by how the final match went because he thought he had a shot at winning the tournament.
Ultimately, it will go down as a treasured memory; making the final is something he will be proud of one day, but shortly after the loss, he was very disappointed by how he played because he expected himself to play much better and give himself a much better chance of winning.
"There’s obviously a lot of positives, and when I get some time to cool down then I’ll be happy about the fact that I made it to the finals and stuff like that. But right now I’m pretty just disappointed with just a lot of things on the court, how I played, how I hit certain shots. It sucks."
It felt to Fritz like he let a lot of people down, himself included, even though many would certainly disagree, as he made the United States proud by becoming the first man to reach a Grand Slam final in 15 years.
"I’m not saying that it necessarily would have made a difference. I don’t know if it would have but I just would have liked to have played better and given myself a better chance."
"It’s really disappointing right now. I’m pretty upset with how I played. I feel like, I don’t know, I feel like I almost let a lot of people down."
There are many parallels between what Fritz said after his loss in the final and what Jessica Pegula said after her loss to Aryna Sabalenka. Both knew that eventually, they would come around to appreciate this experience, but at the moment, it was tough to digest.
After all, playing a final on the Arthur Ashe Stadium is what Fritz dreamed about as a kid, and now he has done it. He just expected to play better than he did. Still, he can get another chance in the future. After all, he knows now that he's capable of reaching the final.
"I’m walking out to play my match on Ashe in the US Open finals is what I dreamed about my whole life. It almost got me emotional, but I was just really happy and ready to enjoy the moment. I didn’t feel overly nervous, I felt pretty good, I just really expected to come out and play better from the start."
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