Fritz Surrenders to Alcaraz: "I am impressed by his ability to win in so many different ways"

Andrés Tomás Rico | 11 Jul 2025 | 20.07

Fritz Surrenders to Alcaraz: "I am impressed by his ability to win in so many different ways." Photo: Getty Images

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Just one point separated Taylor Fritz from taking his match against Carlos Alcaraz to a fifth and decisive set. In fact, he had two opportunities in the fourth-set tiebreak, but he failed to convert them. And when you squander these chances against a player like the Spaniard, you usually pay a heavy price. Therefore, his dream of reaching the final of Wimbledon vanished after the Murcian's victory with a scoreline of 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(7). Despite his defeat, the American can leave London with his head held high. He has been one of the best players during these two weeks, had his chances against the Spaniard, and when his serve was working, he was very hard to beat. Now he will have time to rest and prepare for the North American hard court swing, where he defends the final at the US Open.

In the press conference following his defeat, the Californian expressed satisfaction with his tennis and regretted those two points he had to force a fifth set. Additionally, he made an interesting reflection on what it means to play against Alcaraz and Sinner and the difference in their styles.

Pleased with his performance

"I had my chances, for sure. Definitely, I feel good, felt good on those points in the tiebreak to force a fifth. Obviously, looking back, I can say all the things I should have done on those points, but realistically, I should have been able to get one of them, force a fifth. Whatever happens in the fifth, happens in the fifth. But I think I played a good match. I had a couple slip-ups in the first game and in the third set. In the second and the fourth, I did exactly what I had planned and played the way I wanted. I think Carlos also served exceptionally well today."

Few things he could have done better

"Many of the things I would have changed, I think would have only helped me for a point or two, and then I think Carlos would have just made an adjustment, and I don't think it would have been a long-term answer. I think I wasn't returning his first serve well. Partly because I thought he was serving really well, very well. Partly also because I know I can't just return the ball and that's it because I will lose the point. Part of not returning well was because of how well he was serving and I know I have to return well if I want to win the point. It doesn't make much sense to block a return and lose the point."

"I think what I could have done long-term is do what I was doing, but return better and more aggressively. I think that's something I need to improve a lot, returning aggressively. I return to just put balls in play, which works well for me against most people because I can neutralize points, but against him and Jannik, maybe they are the only ones where doing that is very dangerous."

The importance of his serve to beat Alcaraz

"In the first set, I played a bad first game and got broken immediately. Unfortunately, that's what I've done the last two times I've played Carlos, go out and immediately put myself a break down. That's never good. Like I said, I've watched Carlos many times. For me, I feel like that's the best serving I've seen from him. First set, done. Second set, I did exactly what I wanted to do. Fourth set, I did exactly what I wanted to do. In the two sets I played at the level I wanted, I was there. Yes, like I said, I played really well in the second and the fourth. I lost the fourth, but I was there."

"I just have to avoid playing the moments where the level drops a little and then he can get a breather and get ahead of me. I think, to be fair, on grass, even though he's an incredible grass player, probably pace is my best chance against Carlos. Once the court becomes so slow that I can't hurt him, it's going to be really difficult because regardless of how slow the court is, I think he's always going to be able to hurt me. I need the court to be fast enough to at least be able to even the playing field by hurting him. I think when I played him at the Laver Cup, it was a big problem because the court was incredibly slow. I felt like I couldn't move him off his spot. He has so much brute power, and I don't move like him, so he can hurt me."

The difference between playing against Alcaraz and Sinner

"I would say for me it's different. It's different conditions. I felt pretty comfortable from the back with Jannik when we played in Turin. I think Jannik typically has a bigger serve, so it's harder to get into his return games. For me, from the back, I think I had more success rallying and playing with Jannik because he plays a bit flatter, and he's a bit more predictable. It's amazing what he does playing from the baseline. I think Carlos is a bit more unpredictable with slices, coming to the net, drop shots. Carlos has many different ways of playing. I also think that when Carlos hits his cross-court forehand, he moves a lot, which is tough. Jannik moves more around the court."

"Personally, I prefer facing a flat ball rather than one that is moving away from me. Both generate a lot of power. But I think for me, it's a bit more uncomfortable to play against Carlos because of the unpredictability of what he's going to do. I think I play a lot with anticipation. You never know what Carlos might do with a short ball and serve and volley at 15-30 or something, but I think if I'm playing against Jannik, that's probably not going to happen."

The challenge of facing Alcaraz

"He has many different ways of winning, and he's very good at making adjustments. He made a great adjustment after the second set. In the second set, I don't know what the statistics were, but I think I had a lot of success on his second-serve points. I felt that if he missed a first serve, I put a lot of pressure on him, won a lot of points. Even though he was mixing it up very well, I think that's one of the things I was happiest with on the court."

"When someone is serving with so much variety on second serves, it's very difficult to be aggressive. It was a great adjustment he made in that match. It's risky. Maybe he'll make more double faults, but sometimes he starts almost serving me two first serves. It's a good adjustment. He can do many different things. That's the tough part about playing him. He makes many adjustments and has many different ways to win. Many times I know I have to make an adjustment, but maybe it's not my game, so maybe it's not the best idea. He can do a bit of everything, and he's good at it. He can always change it to adapt, I guess, to what you're doing."

Aiming to win a Grand Slam

"Every time I play against them, I learn a lot about what I need to do to improve. Looking ahead, I just want to keep working on the things that will make me better, that will help me compete with them because ultimately, my ultimate goal is to win a Slam. I think at some point, I'll have to beat these guys to achieve it. It's clear that it's difficult. As I said, if I keep putting myself in these situations and playing against them, I learn more about my game and what I need to do differently and better to reach that level. The important thing is to stay healthy. That's the most important thing. This year I've had to deal with many injuries, but I have to stay healthy and keep trying to improve, as I've been doing for the past couple of years."

All praise towards Alcaraz

"I'm impressed by his ability to win in so many different ways, to play with so many different styles. I'm incredibly impressed with how well he volleys. The pressure points, the big points, he does them as serve and volley, delicate touch volleys, as if he's never going to miss and as if he could do it all day. It's not easy to hit those delicate shots under pressure. It's really impressive. So, I don't know, I mean, he does everything so well. I think for a long time people said his serve was one of the weaker parts of his game. There's no weakness with his serve the way he's doing it today. He's hitting all the spots. He's serving at the same speed as me throughout the match. I'm very impressed by how he has improved his serve," stated a Fritz who, despite pushing Alcaraz to the limit, fell short of defeating him.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Fritz se rinde a Alcaraz: "Me impresiona su capacidad para ganar de tantas maneras diferentes"