NEW YORK—On Sunday, Taylor Fritz was asked why he thought he had an 0-10 record against Novak Djokovic. His answer was simple:
“I think the first, almost like seven or eight times I played him, I probably just wasn’t a good-enough player to really have that much of a chance.”
Fritz is a better player now, and he showed that by pushing Djokovic through four competitive sets in the US Open quarterfinals on Tuesday night. But in the end, the reason for his 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 loss was the same: He wasn’t as good as Djokovic.
Djokovic and Fritz looked and played much the same. They were both dressed in black. Both have similarly lanky but strong builds; Fritz is 6’5”, Djokovic 6’2”. Both hit semi-Western forehands and two-handed backhands. Both spend most of their time pummeling the ball from the baseline.
But with the exception of the serve—and even there it’s close—Djokovic does all of those things a little better than Fritz. He can rally for longer. He can spread the court more and put his shots closer to the lines and the corners. He’s a better returner, a looser and more flexible mover, a better defender, and he has a better transition game. And while Fritz had more aces and won a higher percentage of his first-serve points, Djokovic was the more clutch server: He saved 11 of 13 break points, while Fritz saved five of nine.
All of this meant that Fritz faced a difficult tactical question: Should he use his pace to try to end the points quickly, knowing that Djokovic is a rock from the backcourt? Or should he extend the rallies, knowing that he has 11 years on Djokovic? Fritz, according to his coach, Michael Russell, followed his usual instincts and opted for the former. It got him closer than he’s been in the past, but still short of victory.
It didn’t help that he got off to a predictably nervous start, missing first serves, overhitting forehands, and going down an early break. While the American settled down soon after, he never got that break back. The match’s first inflection point came with Djokovic serving at 5-4. Five times he faced a break point, and five times he saved it, each with an aggressive play.
“In many of my service games I was just trying to stay alive, fight for every ball,” Djokovic said. “He was aggressive, staying close to the line, not easy to play him.”
That pattern held through the first nine games of the second set. Fritz reached break point with Djokovic serving at 1-2, 2-3, and 5-4. Finally, when Djokovic served for the set, Fritz broke through to make it 5-5.
The crowd was on its feet, Fritz was pumping his fist for the first time, and Djokovic finished the game with a weary bail-out drop shot that fluttered into the net. Was it time for the younger man to take over at last?