Taylor Fritz noticed something unusual about Novak Djokovic’s performance last night, despite the routine nature of his loss.
It was quite alarming just how flat last year’s finalist was in front of his home crowd, unable to inspire despite competing at the US Open.
Whether that be his own frailties or the solidity of his opponent, it was a night to forget for the 27-year-old.
Djokovic admitted he struggled throughout the match against Fritz, and clearly this was a phenomenon noticed by the analytical American.
Taylor Fritz speaks about Novak Djokovic’s mistakes in their match
Speaking in his post-match press conference, his review of the clash sought to flit between both his own performance and that of his opponent, which did not inspire.
He started by admitting: “His level was much higher in the fourth set, and mine was too. I think the fourth set was the only set where it was pretty good tennis from the baseline consistently from both of us.
“I think both of us cut down a lot on the mistakes in the fourth. I think he gave me a lot more mistakes than he usually does, and gave me a lot more looks. I was not doing much, and I was getting all those break point chances the first two sets, so realistically I just can’t come out of those first two sets down two sets to love.”
Taylor Fritz then turned to self-assessment: “I just need to play better. That’s the thing that is frustrating. I don’t need to play that much better to make it happen, because I had all the chances that I had playing how I was playing and I just needed to serve a bit better. I was serving pretty poorly in the first two sets.
“But at the end of the day, that is one of the things that makes the great players great, they win the big points and that is something that I touched on before the match.
“I am going to need to go out and take those points from him. He is not going to hand them over to me, and that’s exactly what happened. A lot of my weapons and aggressive shots were just not there or letting me down, so I felt like it was tough for me to go out and take those points.”
How did Novak Djokovic beat Taylor Fritz at the US Open?
As has so often been the case throughout Novak Djokovic’s career, the overwhelming factor that aided his triumph last night was his clinicality.
He was ruthless when afforded the opportunity to be so, and this was no better evidenced than in the break point conversion.
Shockingly, Fritz actually forged more opportunities to break, yet converted just two of the 13 chances he had.
Meanwhile, Djokovic broke four times from his nine chances, which in the end proved pivotal.
For the most part, he was solid on the serve and battled through a relatively error-strewn performance. It’s a testament to the closeness of this affair that the victor won just two more total points than the loser, even if it never really felt like the Serbian was under threat.
However, Djokovic will know better than most just how much he’ll have to raise his game to actually challenge Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open semi-final later this week.
