Taylor Fritz was playing against Yibing Wu in the Ultimate Tennis Showdown final in Los Angeles, but he lost the match.
It was a very entertaining final between Fritz and Wu and certainly a worthwhile final as both players played a really competitive match. The Chinese player was down for much of it, but he managed to win the match ultimately, which left a bit of a sour taste in the mouth of the highest-ranked American on the ATP Tour.
In many ways, this was the start of the US Open Tour for the American, who confirmed after the event that it was a more challenging event than just your regular exhibition. He needs to recover quickly and make his way to the East Coast.
"Yeah definitely. Because it’s not like an exhibition. So I’m going to go back home tonight and recover just like I’d recover from any tournament, and get ready to go into the next one. I’m about to go to the East Coast where it’s really humid, and it’s going to be extremely tough physical conditions. So it’s just great to get some matches in, feel fit."
The loss was a painful one for Fritz who wanted to win it in his home state of California. He lives in LA so not being able to get it done stung a bit. Fritz tried and for the most part played well but he couldn't get it done against the super-inspired Wu.
It stings. But I’d say what makes it sting less is that I had my chances, and I don’t feel like I did too much wrong. I made him play, and he came up with aggressive shots under pressure, so it is what it is.
Fritz further explained that the exhibition didn't change much for him. He would have been in LA preparing for the events anyway so not much changed for him with the UTS participation. He just got a more meaningful prep.
I would have been here practicing and training, which I have been. So, why not get some competitive matches for a couple days? And it went well, I won four matches in a row. The training vs match play aspect of it is great. The confidence I was getting from winning matches and paying these high stakes pressure moments is something that you can’t repeat in practice, so it’s great.
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