“I feel like an idiot!” Taylor Fritz expresses his ‘utter disappointment’ about thinking he could win the US Open after losing the opener to a qualifier
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Taylor Fritz
American No.1 and one of the contenders to go deep at the US Open, Taylor Fritz was knocked out in the first round by fellow American Brandon Holt. The 10th seeded American lost to Holt, a qualifier, in four sets 7-6(3),6-7(1),3-6,4-6. It is to be noted that Holt is tennis legend Tracy Austin’s son and she was present in his box to witness this upset.
Holt is currently ranked No.303 in the world and hadn’t even played a tour-level match all year. On the other hand, Fritz had won a Masters tournament earlier this year and also made it to the quarterfinal at Wimbledon. So naturally, the 10th seed was very upset with his performance and expressed his disappointment in the press conference.
He told the media that this loss feels as bad as the Wimbledon one because he had really high hopes for this tournament. A few days ago, Fritz even went on to say that he could win the US Open. In the press conference, he said that he was an idiot to think he could win US Open and that he feels awful.
“Yeah [it feels as bad as the Wimbledon defeat to Nadal], it sucks. I mean, feels awful. Been playing really well. Had really high hopes. I feel like an idiot for thinking that I could win this thing, win the US Open. I can’t go out and play a match like that. It sucks. I feel awful,” he said.
‘My level tonight is just not kind of what I’ve come to expect of myself as a player’: Taylor Fritz
He spoke about his level in the match and said that he expected a lot more from himself. He also credited Brandon for the way he played and called this kind of opening round matches ‘very tricky’.
“Just my level tonight is just not kind of what I’ve come to expect of myself as a player. To be honest, a lot of times in a match like this I can get away with playing like that, kind of toughing it out. A lot of credit to Brandon. He played a lot of really good points. He honestly played well. I think a lot of times I get through these type of matches sometimes,” Fritz said.
Fritz and Holt have known each other for years and were very well acquainted with each others’ game. They both hail from California and first met at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Boys 10s Southern California Sectional in 2008. Fritz won that meeting and since then, they have been practicing regularly. Fritz revealed how tough it is to play someone who knows your game well and pointed out that he’d have loved to play anyone else but him in the opening round.
“It definitely makes it a lot tougher, the facts that we know each other so well, practice with each other a lot. It’s a big neutralizer, for sure. I probably would have preferred any of the other qualifiers, even though he was probably the lowest-ranked one. I think just to play someone like that, that you’ve known forever, it definitely makes the match a lot harder,” he said.
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)