Taylor Fritz was not bothered by the support given to home favorite Jannik Sinner at the ATP Finals because he dealt with a more hostile crowd at last year's French Open.
Overcoming Sinner in the final of the season-ending tournament would be very challenging at any venue, but the world No. 1 also had home fans to spur him on in Turin.
Sinner, who became the fastest year-end No. 1 this year since Novak Djokovic in 2015, had played impeccable tennis during the event before the final against Fritz, not dropping a set.
By contrast, the American needed to recover from a lengthy battle against Alexander Zverev the previous day in the semifinal. After a match that contained many high-quality rallies, Fritz prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.
Sinner's victory over Fritz in the US Open final made the 2022 Indian Wells Open champion an even bigger underdog. Few expected him to have enough to beat the best ATP player of the season in the final.
Those expectations proved to be correct. Fritz did not play a bad match, but a break of serve in each set was good enough for Sinner to triumph 6-4, 6-4 and seal a maiden ATP Finals title.
Although losing in another big final was undoubtedly tough for Fritz, he should be proud of his efforts in Turin. The 27-year-old will also reach a career-high ranking of No. 4 when the new rankings are released.
Fritz had to contend with a partisan crowd supporting Sinner throughout the contest, but an incident at the 2023 French Open proves he is used to even more intense atmospheres and can thrive in them.
French crowds are known to give their players particularly vociferous backing during matches. That was undoubtedly the case when Fritz met Arthur Rinderknech in the second round at Roland Garros.
After overcoming the home player in front of a rowdy crowd on Suzanne Lenglen in four sets, Fritz enraged those inside the stadium by putting his fingers to his lips and shushing them.
However, Fritz was not done there. When the crowd continued jeering him during his post-match interview, the ATP Finals runner-up gestured and shouted toward them, making the interview very difficult to do.
When asked in his post-match press conference after losing to Sinner about coping with the Italian fans' strong support for the world No. 1 throughout the match, Fritz made a short but humorous reference to the incident at Roland-Garros.
"I mean, I'm not sure if you're aware of some of my history of playing matches in opposing country crowds. I've dealt with a lot worse. This is nothing." (smiling)
Although the Italian crowd backed Sinner loudly, they were not overtly disrespectful to Fritz. Overall, Sinner's superb level meant that what the crowd said or did almost certainly had no impact on the final result.
Fritz's final appearance of the 2024 season will be at the Davis Cup Finals. The year-end tournament starts on Tuesday when Rafael Nadal's Team Spain faces the Netherlands in Malaga.
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