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Taylor Fritz Star Is Born In Indian Wells
8 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles
Taylor Fritz first showed he has extraordinary tennis capacity as an 18 year old at 2016 AO qualies third round, he was ahead of Mischa Zverev 63 and match points to reach his first Grand Slam main draw. But Fritz blundered his way to blowing the second set in a tiebreaker and then stumbled to a 0-4 deficit in the third set. However, Fritz would wake up and exhibit that he’s a magic maker as he somehow sparked himself to win six straight games vs Zverev and a glorious entry into the 2016 AO main draw (where he would lose in five sets to Jack Sock).
In the ensuing six years, Fritz improved, matured and refined his skills into the top 25 and as the top American late last year. In 2021 he extended eventual AO champion Novak Djokovic to a thrilling five set marathon. And yesterday Fritz achieved the greatest win of his career and second ATP title, the prestigious Indian Wells championship, by defeating Rafael Nadal 63 76. It was the first loss of Nadal’s 2022.
Fritz is now ranked 8 in the world and surely the best is yet to come for the handsome, charismatic 24 year old American coached by Iron Mike Russell.
The heroics of Fritz could not come at a better time for American tennis with the Williams sisters seemingly on the way out and John Isner most likely finished as a top ten singles star.
“Winning this tournament especially, Indian Wells, this is one of those childhood dreams that you just never think can come true. I just keep saying, ‘No, no. Just no way it’s real.’ ”
Fritz is now an authentic superstar in the sport and a serious threat to win Grand Slam titles.
BNP Paribas Open · Taylor Fritz
Sam · March 21, 2022 at 9:14 pm
Actually, Scoop, apparently they initially goofed up Fritz’s new ranking. It appears that he’s now at #13 instead of #8. Still not too shabby.
And thank goodness someone finally took out the guy with the “bum” knees. 😊
Scoop Malinowski · March 22, 2022 at 12:02 pm
Sam, just a matter of time before Fritz gets to 8 and higher. He has no. 1 potential.
Sam · March 23, 2022 at 1:36 am
Cool—good for Fritz!
By the way, Scoop, what do you think of Nadal’s latest “injury” taking him out for several weeks? 😚
Funny how so few people seem to be questioning it—publicly at least.
Scoop Malinowski · March 23, 2022 at 8:06 am
Sam, I think it’s another injury hoax. Teams and team sport players always hide and conceal injuries to stars so as to not five the opposing team any advantage or area to try to exploit. But Rafa announces all his injuries to the media and then goes out and, allegedly injured, can still run around like gangbusters and win matches. I stopped buying Rafa’s injury claims over a decade ago. The turning point was AO 2009, the weekend before the tournament started Rafa claimed he was in an elevator and felt the worst pain he ever felt in his life in his knee. Two weeks later he was holding the champion trophy.
Sam · March 23, 2022 at 6:45 pm
Yes, Scoop, more than likely it’s just fake news. As you said, if the injury were actually real, Nadal would want to conceal it, not broadcast it. 😆
His little strategy could well backfire.
Scoop Malinowski · March 23, 2022 at 7:45 pm
Sam it’s mysterious why Nadal has to harp so much on his alleged injuries. Maybe it’s a way to deflect divert media attention from him trying to win, the media emphasis becomes more about what a heroic warrior he is. All the injury talk is so tiring now, wish he would just play straight up and talk about other things than his injuries.
Sam · March 24, 2022 at 6:51 pm
It’s a sign of deep insecurity, I think, at best. At worst, it’s incredibly low-class—not to mention dishonest. 🤮
Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2022 at 7:03 pm
The worst one he did Sam was the fake injury down a set vs Wawrinka in the AO final. He left the court for ten minutes and the returned shirtless and the crowd booed him. The crowd knew he faked it and booed him. Rafa was devastated by hearing Laver Arena boo him, total humiliation. He could not play after that, trying to feign that he really was hurt while also trying to beat Stanimal. Rafa ruined that final and Stan’s grand moment of winning his first Grand Slam. All the great champions seem to have a flaw in their character and this is Rafa’s. Nobody’s perfect, not even Sampras, Budge, Tilden, Connors, Borg, McEnroe, Djokovic, Fed…