Fritz unleashes Medvedev’s madness and adds the first victory in the Masters Cup

On a surface as fast as the Inalpi Arena, the serve becomes the definitive trump card if it goes well. And where it sinks you if it goes wrong. And so, the American managed to maneuver in his favor a dwarfed rival in this course, without titles or major rounds to highlight. Fritz had nine aces and did not commit any double faults; Medvedev had six aces, but also committed six doubles. Three of them, consecutive, to give away the break and the first set.

There is no reaction time to mitigate the speed of the ball on this court. And more than Fritz stole in a game that he led on all fronts. Medvedev was reluctant, enraged and the protagonist of another moment of madness in the Turin pavilion (he threw the racket towards the bench, tried to subtract with the handle) he was never comfortable nor did he find that skill that usually puts his rivals in trouble thanks to his illegible tennis . It wasn’t this time. Or was Fritz, on the contrary, a great reader. Very safe from the bottom and without getting confused by the rival’s follies.

A break in the fourth game of the second set was the sentence. He no longer wanted to play Russian; The American wanted to continue in line. Who has come to play a great role, already becoming the strongest rival of the group led by Sinner.

He had already demonstrated his good level in training, winning a set against Carlos Alcaraz 6-3 in the previous round, and also during the rest of the course, the most advanced American in the class.

He is the fourth player who has accumulated the most victories in the course (49), behind Zverev (66-20), Sinner (65-6) and Alcaraz (52-11) and has lifted the Delray Beach and Eastbourne titles. And there continues to be a firm progression, especially on a fast court, a surface on which, for example, he beat Nadal on two occasions in the four dates they had together: final of Indian Wells 2022 (6-3 and 7-6 (5) and Masters Cup 2022 (7-6 (3) and 6-1), edition in which he debuted and in which he reached the semifinal, which he lost against Djokovic.

Fritz could have dedicated himself to whatever he wanted, since his family had enough assets to consider any other life that did not mean traveling every week or going out to train every day. In fact, it is a life that his parents, Guy and Kathy, also had, as they both played tennis professionally. His mother, the daughter of businessmen, grew up in Beverly Hills and opted for racquetball until she decided that life was too lonely and gave up everything at the age of 24. The mark was there, because it became the top ten.

His father also gave up the racket, but only half-heartedly, as he became a coach. And his son’s coach. There was passion but also strict manners, with a home gym, a meticulous diet and conversations that did not always help Taylor. «He was very critical of my style of play. Maybe I would have needed someone who would not continually tell me the mistakes, but also the successes,” the player went on to say. However, his relationship with his father led him to become US Open junior champion in 2015. As an adult, Fritz reached the final of the American Grand Slam last September, losing the final to Sinner.

And he continues his good year with a debut worthy of his prospects, which involve taking advantage of the power of his tennis on a hard surface and surprising in this Masters Cup in which everyone is talking about Alcaraz and Sinner.