ATaylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe battled to five sets in a historic American semifinal match on Friday night to determine who would seize the biggest opportunity of his career. Andy Roddick, a top American tennis player, watched from one of the guest boxes spread across Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It has been 21 years since Roddick won the US Open on the same court, beating Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final. His victory seemed at the time a perfect moment to pass the torch to a new era of American players, as the careers of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, who had won the US Open and Australian Open respectively the year before, were coming to an end.
Instead, as bigger, more talented players established themselves at the top of the pecking order, the 2003 US Open would mark an abrupt end to American men’s dominance in tennis. It was Roddick’s only Grand Slam title, and it has remained an insurmountable feat for his future compatriots. Finally, after beating Tiafoe, Fritz will attempt to end two decades of misery in the men’s US Open schedule when he takes on World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in his first Grand Slam final on Sunday.
In some ways, it feels like Fritz has been positioned by everyone around him for this exact moment. He is the son of former top-10 player and US Open quarterfinalist Kathy May, while his father and uncle were also professional tennis players.
Fritz’s legacy proved a useful springboard to early success. He enjoyed a stellar junior career, rising to No. 1 in the rankings and becoming one of the next great hopes of American tennis in a generation of talented young American players that included Tiafoe, Tommy Paul and Reilly Opelka.
But his rise on the professional tour has proven more gradual than inevitable. After turning pro in 2015, the 26-year-old spent a lot of time figuring out his game and building confidence before cracking the top 20 for the first time in 2022. Until last year’s US Open, despite having cracked the top 10, he had only made one Grand Slam quarterfinal.
There are far faster, stronger, and more formidable pure athletes on the ATP tour than Fritz, and it has taken time for him to complement his excellent serve with a well-rounded game good enough to compete with the best. To bridge some of those physical gaps between himself and his opponents, Fritz has had to call upon his competitive instincts, his ability to fight to the death and rise to the occasion rather than shy away from it.
In addition to a top-five ranking, a Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells in 2022 and the distinction of being the most successful American tennis player of his generation to date, Fritz’s mental toughness has consistently driven him forward.
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But one of the sport’s greatest challenges awaits Fritz in the final. Sinner hasn’t necessarily played his best tennis in New York this year. He’s not in the ruthlessly efficient form he showed en route to his Australian Open title, but he has won 54 matches this year and lost just five, and his record on hard courts in 2024 now stands at 34-2.
Sinner’s 15-1 recent tie-break record since June is also a reflection of his current state of mind: Every time he steps onto the court, he expects to play his best tennis at the important moments and win. On Sunday afternoon, as he chases history in front of a raucous home crowd, Fritz faces the challenge of outdoing the best player in the world.