Fritz says Grand Slam final run is ‘repeatable’

pFresh from the experience of his first Grand Slam final, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/taylor-fritz/fb98/overview'Taylor Fritz/a is confident that it won’t be his last./p

pDespite his failed quest to become the United States’ first Grand Slam champion since a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andy-roddick/r485/overview'Andy Roddick/a triumphed at Flushing Meadows in 2003, the Californian believes that he is capable of similar deep runs in the future./p

p"It is a great feeling to have gotten to this point, knowing that I'm playing well, but I'm playing very within myself, and I feel like it's repeatable,” he shared./p

pFritz fell to World No. 1 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 after a strong run to his first major final, that included wins over Top 10 stars a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/casper-ruud/rh16/overview'Casper Ruud/a.

p“I think the biggest thing is that I played solid this week, but I played very within myself. I don't think I at any point, was, like, wow, I'm playing incredible, or I'm playing out of my mind,” he said./p

p“I know that there's still a lot of room for improvement. And something I've said throughout my entire career, whether it's when I won my first ATP point or I won my first challenger or I made my first round of 16 or whatever it is, I've always said once I do something once, I just feel a lot more confident in being able to do it again."/p

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pFritz was quick to praise Sinner, who now leads the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series 2-1. Sinner dominated the match, leaving Fritz no opportunity to stage a comeback. /p

p“He’s the best player in the world right now. My plan A is not working. The plan B that I fall back on would normally be just like bringing everything in, being a little bit safer, grinding it out,” he said. /p

p“That works, along with my serve, against a lot of other players, but against him, I tried to kind of bring it down, not be as aggressive, and he's just gonna bully me a little bit too much.”/p

pHe also acknowledged that Sinner was a significantly improved player since they first played each other in the round of 16 at Indian Wells in 2021. “I could find myself in a lot of return games just off of his first serve. I felt like I could get myself in points off of his first serve every time. Then it was much easier to hurt him from the ground, as well. So he's much faster, a lot better out of the corners. His serve is really good now.”/p

pFritz said that he wasn’t overwhelmed by playing in a Grand Slam final, claiming that he was more nervous for the all-American semi-final with a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/frances-tiafoe/td51/overview'Frances Tiafoe/a on Friday night./p

p“I was very, nervous going into the semi-final. I didn't feel anywhere near as nervous going into this match as I did in the semis,” Fritz said./p

p"So I thought emotionally, it's obviously the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a final, I want to win it, it's a really big moment. But I felt like emotionally I was going to be okay, because I knew it wasn't going to be as bad as it was before my semi-final match, and I found a way to get through that.”/p

pThe 26-year-old beat No. 8 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/casper-ruud/rh16/overview'Casper Ruud/a and No. 4 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a on his way to the final. He was happy with his best run at a major but also showed his disappointment and bittersweet feelings after the loss./p

p“There's obviously a lot of positives, and when I get some time to cool down, then I'll be happy about the fact that I made it to the finals and stuff like that.

p“But right now I'm pretty disappointed in how a lot of things on the court (went), how I played, how I hit certain shots. It sucks. I'm pretty upset with how I played. I feel like I almost let a lot of people down.”/p

pFritz will now focus on representing Team World at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/laver-cup/9210/overview'Laver Cup/a in Berlin from 20-22 September. He has a 44-17 win/loss record for the season. He also jumped to fifth place in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin as he looks to return to the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a for the second time./p

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