By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday September 8, 2024
New York—Taylor Fritz had to laugh when he has asked by a reporter if Jannik Sinner had improved since the first time he played him.
It’s pretty obvious, after all.
After falling to the No.1-ranked Italian in Sunday’s US Open final, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, Fritz had the following to say about the difference between the Italian then and now.
“The biggest improvement by far is his serve,” Fritz said. “If I’m going to go back – because I played him last year in Indian Wells, and he had already improved his serve. I think from then I don’t think the improvement is, like, a ton. I think he was very, very good at that point.”
Fritz says he used to feel comfortable returning against Sinner, believing that he could win a lot of return points against him, even against his first serve.
But it wasn’t the case on Sunday as Sinner won 38 of 43 first serve points and controlled the terms of the tennis behind his first offering.
Things were different when Fritz defeated Sinner three years ago at Indian Wells.
“If I want to go to 2021 Indian Wells, the serve and the movement, massive improvements,” Fritz said. “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.”
The game of the 23-year-old Italian looks as good as ever. He improved to 6-0 in finals this season and improved to 14-0 at the hardcourt Slams with his title run in New York. Overall Sinner is 35-2 on hard courts in 2024.
But look out ATP Tour, Sinner still sees room for improvement.
“You always have to work, you have to,” said Sinner. “It never stops. It’s like you always keep going and keep going. Until now I didn’t have so much time off to say, okay, you have done a great job. “This is all part of the sacrifices you make for an eventual future. So we will keep working.
“In my mind, I know that I’m not perfect and I will never be perfect, but we always try to evolve in my game. Then after my career I can say, okay, I’ve done everything possible to be at 100 percent.”
