I first heard the buzz about Taylor Fritz two years ago at Eddie Herr as insiders were talking about how hard he could hit the ball. Then last year he made his name known as an elite junior by finaling at Roland Garros and winning the US Open. On top of that Fritz won two ATP Challengers at the end of last season. The magic has continued into this year. Fritz qualified for the Australian Open beating Mischa Zverev from 0-4 down in the third set before losing first round to Jack Sock in five sets. This week at the Memphis Open Fritz has continued to prove he has an uncanny ability to win professional matches against far more experienced opposition. He beat Michael Mmoh in straight sets then downed ATP #29 Steve Johnson in two tiebreakers. There would be no letdown after that glorious upset – Fritz beat veteran Benjamin Becker (over $3 million in career prize earnings) in the quarterfinal 76 in the third set. And it was the way Fritz did it than dazzled. Becker served for the match at 65 but failed because Fritz stunningly raised his level. Then in the tiebreak it was the eighteen year old who outcooled and outsmarted the 34 year old. Fritz was the one who came up with the fearless courageous penetrating offensive shots at 5-5 in the breaker to register the victory that will surely send shockwaves around the ATP universe. With all this sudden ATP success by Fritz you get the sense a new movement has begun. You get the sense a brand new tennis star has been born – and Fritzmania has officially commenced in Memphis Tennessee in February 2016.
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Tennis-Prose.com
Tennis-Prose.com
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« Previous 1 2Rob · February 16, 2016 at 7:12 pm
Looking forward to the wrap up Dan. Thanks for humouring my top 5 in 2020. I can’t see Raonic having that much staying power. I think he has the walk but it hurts his knees – don’t know how long he’ll stand at the top. Too much metaphor?
Re practice sets Stephanie myles reported felix beat pospisil in a practice set. See you in 2020 Felix?
Scoop Malinowski · February 16, 2016 at 10:51 pm
Dan how was Groth trying to intimidate Rubin? That’s a huge win for Rubin – he is showing he is a legit ATP World Tour level player – Right now Fritz and Rubin are the leaders of the USA Tennis Youth movement –
catherine bell · February 17, 2016 at 2:55 am
Hate to spoil The Next Great Thing party but what’s happened to ‘Future No 1’ Samantha Crawford ?
Dan Markowitz · February 17, 2016 at 3:42 am
I know Catherine, Crawford has not consolidated her breakthrough since making all that noise in Brisbane. I was greatly impressed by her big fearless game and her size, but maybe she’s more of a one trick pony and her game is very streaky.
Scoop, Groth tried to intimidate Rubin by twice roaring Come On’s after fighting off break points in two different games of the third set. He broke Rubin to take the second set at 6-4 and then looked like hed do the same to win the match at 4-5, 15-40 on Rubin’s serve. On the second match point, Rubin just kicked his first serve in and then engaged Groth in this cat and mouse forehand inside out to backhand cross court rally where Groth tried to pull the trigger and hit a blazing backhand down the line, but it landed in the alley. Rubin didn’t miss ever on his backhand and was very crafty with his forehand until he missed a few key ones late. Not once did his energy ever go awry and when he came back to notch the final set at 5-all, facing down three match points, he whooped the crowd up some and that’s not easy to do at Delray.
A Tournament worker told me that mostly this is a sponsor-driven event and that the money isn’t made at the gate, but here was a decent crowd today. I didn’t go back at night after eating at the excellent Cuban place on Atlantic Ave, but the place had energy to it. Nice win for Delpo over Kudla. I want to see the big fella play his second round match. How about the top 3 seeds already being kaput w/ KevAnd, Tomic and Dr. Ivo all going out as well as Fritz. But w/ Delpo, Dimitrov and Chardy still looking strong there’s still star power.
Bobby H · February 17, 2016 at 6:04 am
Hey Scoop,
After watching Taylor Fritz come from a set down to win his semifinal match. Im all in on the Fritz train. He had a lot of pose and ability to convert game points right away. Ryan Harrison spoke glowingly of him. Did he win the final?
Scoop Malinowski · February 17, 2016 at 7:56 am
Bobby; Fritz lost the final to Kei 4646 which is certainly an acceptable and understandable loss given how great a player Kei is – not sure if the 16 yr old Hewitt would have beaten Kei in the final of Adelaide either – And if you saw the way Fritz beat Johnson 76 76 and the way he beat Zverev in Aus Open qualies from 0-4 down in the third set and winning six straight games you would be even more all in on the Fritz train 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · February 17, 2016 at 7:57 am
I’d guess Crawford has a rather abundant sized X on her back now after her Aussie success – and now as the one expected to win she’s struggling with that pressure –
Scoop Malinowski · February 17, 2016 at 7:59 am
Rubin is my kind of player – grinder fighter smart tactical player and quicker than a cat who just made eye contact with a hungry wolf – helluva win over Groth – hope he can springboard this win into more and keep sparking the USA tennis revolution with mr fritz –
Moskova Moskova · February 17, 2016 at 4:47 pm
Down goes isner..
Down goes sock..
Down goes fritz !! Prlly has peaked out at a 500 final loss to nishi…won’t see him in another atp final for the rest of the season..
Harold · February 17, 2016 at 4:53 pm
Memphis is a 250. Will take Fritz seriously when he reaches a final in a 500
Andrew Miller · February 17, 2016 at 8:57 pm
Smyczek triumphs again. The hype train ends for now.
Nice job by Smyczek, who got Fritz back for beating him in California challenger. Gets him back on a bigger stage too. Smyczek likes big matches when he gets them.
Outside of Smyczek and Rajeev Ram Delray is a downer in the so far downer two months for u.s. tennis.
Scoop Malinowski · February 18, 2016 at 7:49 am
Super G Dimitrov should win Delray now – Smee could use a good run to get his ranking back into top 100 or better yet top 75 –
Dan Markowitz · February 18, 2016 at 7:57 am
The way Super G played last night against Dzhumhur I’d say him winning Delray over Chardy and possibly Delpo is not a done deal. He didn’t look like he had any sure winning shot or plan.
Andrew Miller · February 18, 2016 at 11:47 am
Dan’s description fits Dimitrov. Pretty shots. Occasionally a decent plan. Usually not. Poor execution.