Things started in familiar territory. Fritz looked confident early, breaking Tiafoe’s first service game. But then things turned: Tiafoe broke back, and took his first set off Fritz in over two years, since Montreal 2022.
Many players complain that Arthur Ashe Stadium picks sides. At the beginning, the crowd was on Tiafoe’s. No surprise there, since he’s both a charming personality and someone who knows how to fire up spectators. Many vocal Fritz fans—never more creative than shouting “let’s go Taylor”—were men dressed in pastels, faces pink from Honey Deuces. But as often happens at Ashe, Tiafoe’s early lead gave the audience more reason to root for Fritz. He may have entered the match as a favorite but now, a set down, he was the underdog.
The second set was mostly quick and comfortable holds, an acknowledgment that this would be a long bout. Nearly all of their previous matches had ended in straight sets to Fritz; when Tiafoe took the first one, it signaled that tonight would be different. When he wins a good point, Tiafoe switches his racquet to his left hand so he can shake the fist of his right. That evening, Tiafoe was shaking his fist a lot. The crowd ate it up.
The energy of Ashe picked up at the end of the second set, which Fritz ultimately took. Two hours in, Tiafoe led 2-1. The last time Tiafoe took two sets from Fritz? Their first meeting at Indian Wells in 2016—the only time Tiafoe has won.
In the fourth set, the level of play kept going up. One long rally had Tiafoe deploying his entire arsenal: heavy topspin forehands, sudden speedy cross-court backhands, a well-disguised slice for good measure. The changing pace didn’t throw off Fritz, who remained steady and came through in that 31-shot rally, outlasting Tiafoe to strike a winner.
After Fritz took the fourth set, I couldn’t help but think about how the two players are a contrast in body types. Fritz is tall and lanky, drawing power from the torque in his long torso; Tiafoe, maybe the most jacked player on tour, gets his strength from his biceps. Even their kits were in contrast: Fritz was in a black and white outfit from Boss, with a headband channeling Cobra Kai and a Chipotle patch on his sleeve; Tiafoe in his lilac Nike fit, which he swapped out constantly, leaving a messy pile of sweat-drenched tank tops next to his bench.
There was a time when American men were all built the same: extremely tall, extremely pale, and able only to serve. Guys like John Isner and Sam Querrey, and more recently Riley Opelka. They could barely move around the court, giving the US a reputation for producing “servebots.” Even a casual tennis viewer could understand that these guys were no fun to watch.
Friday showed just how far the US men’s tennis has come. Maybe Fritz-Tiafoe didn’t reach the heights of the U.S. Open battles between Pete Sampras and Michael Chang—at one point the two highest ranking players in the world. But here was a duel between two extremely different players, each just a set away from making the final match of the year’s last major. Even my apathy toward national pride melted a bit, watching Fritz and Tiafoe take it into the fifth.
