ATP Tour

Fritz on Alcaraz: 'He's always going to be able to hurt me'

Taylor Fritz became the latest victim to fall at Wimbledon to Carlos Alcaraz, who has now won his past 20 matches at the grass-court major. After his four-set defeat, the American shared his thoughts on the Alcaraz game, highlighting the impact of the Spaniard’s serve.

“The first set I came out and I just played a bad first game and put myself down a break instantly. Unfortunately, that's what I've done the past two times I played Carlos, came out and instantly put myself down a break. That's never good,” Fritz said in his post-match press conference.

“Like I said, I've watched Carlos plenty. For me, I feel like that's the best I've seen him serve. I'm not going to get a look to break him back. First set, done. Second set, did exactly what I wanted to do. Fourth set, did exactly what I wanted to do... I just need to avoid playing the times where the level dips a bit and then he can grab a break and just get ahead of me.”

Two-time defending champion Alcaraz improved to 24-2 at Wimbledon with his win and 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Fritz, with their previous two meetings coming on hard courts. Despite Alcaraz's imperious record, Fritz still feels grass gives him the best shot.

“I think, to be fair, on grass, even though he's such an incredible grass court player, probably fast is my best opportunity with Carlos,” Fritz said. “Once the court gets slow to where I can't hurt him, it's going to be really tough because, regardless of how slow the court is, I think he's always going to be able to hurt me.”

Alcaraz will meet Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final on Sunday afternoon after the Italian defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Trailing Sinner 1-4 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, Fritz shared his thoughts on how the Top 2 players in the PIF ATP Rankings compare.

“For me, from the ground I think I had more success rallying and playing with Jannik because he plays a bit flatter and it's a little bit more predictable. He's unbelievable at what he does playing from the baseline. I think Carlos is a little more unpredictable with the slicing and the coming to net and the dropshots. Carlos has a lot of different ways to play,” said Fritz.

“I also think when Carlos whips his forehand cross, there's a lot of movement away, which is difficult. Jannik is more through the court.  For me personally, I'd rather probably deal with the flat one than the ball that's working away from me. They both generate a lot of raw power. But I think for me it's a little more uncomfortable to play Carlos just because of the unpredictability of what he's going to do.”

Fritz leaves London up one spot at No. 4 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. The 27-year-old went 13-2 across the grass-court season, winning ATP 250 titles in Stuttgart and Eastbourne. Only Djokovic (8) has more grass-court crowns than Fritz (5) among active players. Fritz is keen to take the positives from the grass swing when looking ahead to the North American hard-court season.

“Every time I play these guys, I learn a lot about what I need to do to improve and get better. Moving ahead, I just want to keep working on the things that are going to get me better, that are going to help me compete with these guys because at the end of the day, my ultimate goal is to win a Slam," said Fritz, who is seventh in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. “I think I'm going to have to at some point beat these guys to do it. It's obviously a tough ask.

“If I keep putting myself in these situations and playing them, I learn more about my game and what I need to do differently and what I need to do better to get to that level.”

The former US Open finalist, who is 30-12 on the season, is next scheduled to compete in the ATP 500 in Washington, D.C., beginning 10 days from now on 21 July.