Jim Courier and Lindsay Davenport have both emerged to give their thoughts, not only on the struggles of Taylor Fritz last night, but also on the greatness they witnessed in Novak Djokovic.
After all, it was a tight affair between the two, but as has so often been the case over the last two decades, the 24-time Grand Slam champion was just too good in the big moments.
He faced far more break points on his own serve, yet converted a crucial two more than his American opponent to narrowly squeeze out a four-set victory.
Courier, first speaking about Taylor Fritz, tried to predict how his compatriot would have been feeling throughout the clash.
Jim Courier thinks Taylor Fritz will be ‘hugely frustrated’ with Novak Djokovic loss
Speaking on Tennis Channel, he started by lauding the Fritz game plan: “I think being aggressive is the right idea when it’s the right shot to hit. You can’t be aggressive when Novak is attacking you. You’ve got to live to fight through those points and make it physical. I thought Taylor came out with the right concepts in general.
“I don’t think that the cooler conditions helped his offence, because Novak wasn’t injured tonight. We didn’t see the trainer out there unless I missed it.
“But I think that this is just such a hard matchup obviously for him. Taylor needs to play close to his limits, but I’m sure in the back of his mind, he was thinking if I’d just keep him out of here long enough, maybe he’ll break down. He kept him out there for three hours and 24 minutes, played a bad game to lose his serve at the end. That could have easily gone five sets, and then who knows?”
He finished by assessing Fritz’s US Open as a whole: “So, I think overall, a positive tournament for Taylor, I’m sure he’s gonna be hugely frustrated to not get past Novak here.”
Fritz pointed out the many mistakes Djokovic made during their match afterwards, which will not have helped him to cope with the nature of the defeat.
Lindsay Davenport explains why Novak Djokovic is the greatest of all time
Davenport was next up, and actually sought to focus on what Novak Djokovic did well rather than what Fritz failed to do.
She admitted: “Novak was clutch, and he was surgical about how he went about his return games.”
Davenport then explained why: “Fritz won ten more points on the receiving end than Novak did in this match. He was threatening in so many service games, but Novak was able to hold him off, able to save all those break points, he served well. He was aggressive. Fritz had his chances, but Novak was able to lift his game when he needed to.
“He also was able to push when he wanted to get the break, and when he really locked in there, and there’s a reason why he’s the greatest player of all time.
“He knew he had the edge, had to head out there, and he took advantage of what he does better than Fritz in that match.”
Fritz will now suffer a blow to his ranking, having failed to defend his points from reaching the final last year.
Meanwhile, Djokovic has set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash with Carlos Alcaraz.
