It’s done and dusted, Novak Djokovic once again asserts his dominance over Taylor Fritz with a 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, completely shattering Fritz’s US Open dreams. With that, the last American contender exits the tournament. The 38-year-old Serbian, a four-time champion in New York, wasted little time dispatching last year’s finalist, extending his flawless record against Fritz. “Incredibly close match,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview, but was it really close? Certainly, at moments. Yet despite 10 previous defeats to Djokovic, Fritz still couldn’t find the formula to beat him.

Djokovic looked sluggish in the early sets, but his skill was enough to keep Fritz at bay. After taking the first two sets, it seemed inevitable that the match would swing the Serbian’s way. Still, in a late twist, Djokovic misfired with a drop shot, and Fritz pounced with a brilliant passing winner to snatch the break. Taking one set from Djokovic, Fritz had a little confidence boost, but was it enough? In his own words, “I just played a bad point or was too conservative or pulled the trigger at the wrong time. It’s just bad—like just bad decision-making—because I wasn’t playing as well as I would have wanted to.”

Reflecting on his performance, Fritz summed it up in one word: “Embarrassing.” Taylor Fritz faced numerous questions, and he had answers for all of them.”I had so many more chances that you’re not going to see on a stat line because I was in points at love-30, 15-30, 30-all. I just wasn’t converting and was playing these points really poorly. And when it comes down to the break points themselves, I’d say out of the 10 you said I converted on 11, I’d say the first 10, I’d say like five or six of them he played pretty well. It’s tough, you know, not tough for me to kind of do too much,” said Fritz in the post-match presser.

In the fourth set, Fritz’s lead was reversed. Djokovic, already frustrated by the noisy New York crowd that cheered against him and even shouted during his serves, punished Fritz as he took control and closed out the match, sending the American home. Summing up his performance, Fritz stated, “I thought I did a decent job putting returns in the court. I think what’s made it tough in the past is how much variance there is in a second serve. Like, I’d love to attack his second serve more, but it’s tough, you know, because sometimes he throws in like a kind of softer serve in the middle of the box or to the backhand. But it’s tough to attack those when I’m also like very kind of ready for this big, big second serve that he goes into the forehand on.”

At the end, he added,“Especially on the ad side, he loves to hit like a 110, almost like a three-quarter first serve, like a slider into the forehand. And to be honest, he’s done it to me. He does it every time he plays. It’s pretty embarrassing the number of times that I was sitting on it, waiting for it, and still missed the return.” With this, his dreams of breaking through Djokovic’s defense and securing the trophy might have come to an end. This level of critical analysis is typical of him after losing a close battle, as we’ve seen before. Where exactly? Let’s take a closer look.

Back when Taylor Fritz regretted only one thing at Wimbledon

Carlos Alcaraz clashed with Taylor Fritz in a Wimbledon semifinal that turned into a gripping drama. Alcaraz ultimately triumphed to book yet another spot in the 2025 final, but it was far from routine. The match swung wildly on a few pivotal points, delivering a true Wimbledon classic. At one point, it looked like the match was going in favour of Fritz; however, several missed chances snatched the game away from his hands.

While having a conversation with the media, Fritz was visibly frustrated with his performance as he stated, “I had my chances, for sure. I definitely feel like good looks, good looks in those points in the tiebreaker to force a fifth. ” Fritz trailed 2-4 in the fourth-set tiebreak but fought back to lead 6-4, earning a chance to serve for the set and force a decider. Instead, two unforced errors and Carlos Alcaraz’s sharp play swung the momentum. Alcarez took four straight points to seal the tiebreak and the match.

He further added, “I felt like, obviously, in hindsight can say all the things I should have done on those points, but realistically, yeah – I mean I should have been able to get one of them, force a fifth. I thought that I played a good match. Couple hiccups, I mean, first game of the match and then in the third set, but the second and the fourth I definitely did exactly what I set out to do and play how I was trying … how I wanted to play.” Well, one of Fritz’s biggest strengths is his ability to look for flaws in his game plan and acknowledge them thoroughly.

He might have failed this time against Djokovic, but he will bounce back in the future. Meanwhile, head to the EssentiallySports Live Blog coverage of the 2025 US Open for more bytes.

Guess who else we caught up with at this year’s US Open: Nick Kyrigos. He had a thing or two to say, exclusively, to us!