Taylor Fritz, 25, admitted he “could not be happier” after ousting Rafael Nadal in his first-ever ATP Finals match.
On Sunday, Fritz defeated Nadal 7-6 (3) 6-1 in his Round Robin opener in Turin.
“It feels great. I felt like coming out first match, especially for my hopes of getting out of the group, it was going to be really important. I didn’t want to put myself in a position where I needed to win out if I wanted to move on. I came out and played a great match, and I couldn’t be happier,” Fritz said after the win over Nadal, per the ATP Finals website.
How Fritz defeated Nadal?
In the first set, no breaks of serve were seen even though Fritz had a break point in the third game and two more break points in the seventh game.
Fritz didn’t convert his break points earlier in the first set, but he started the tie-break with an early 3-0 lead and he had no problems winning the tie-break after getting off to an early lead.
After the opening two games of the second set, Fritz and Nadal were tied to one game apiece.
Then, Fritz claimed back-to-back breaks and won five games in a row to complete a two-set win in an impressive style.
After the match, Fritz said he feels the conditions in Turin are suiting up his game well.
“The court’s definitely fast. For me, fast is good for my serve, it’s good for my backhand. I feel like different speeds always have parts that help my game, and parts that hurt my game. On a slower court, I have so much more time to kind of load up on a forehand. On a court like this, I can lean into my backhand and hit it deep cross to Rafa’s forehand, and it makes it a but tougher for him to step in and crush it. On a slower surface, he gets time on the forehand when I go backhand cross, and it’s probably done for me. So I’d say that’s where it helps me the most on the ground against him,” Fritz explained.
Fritz plays Casper Ruud in his second Round Robin match.