American Taylor Fritz rates big shot to win U.S. Open

It was in 2015 that American Taylor Fritz won the U.S. Open boys junior tournament. He had turned pro before the event began, and thus embarked on his career right after.
Now it’s seven years down a hard, winding  road for him, but based on a 2022 season that has been his most successful, now may be his best chance to win  an Open championship. The Open kicks off on Monday.
    It’s been a long time since the stars  aligned for any American man to win the U.S. Open. Andy Roddick is the last to do so in 2003 and the only American to also win the Open junior title in 2000. Roddick is the last American man to reach any Grand Slam final since then, losing to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009.
    Fritz, a 24-year-old from San Diego, has won two of his three career titles this season, including a massive win over Rafael Nadal in the final at Indian Wells. He also took Nadal to a fifth set tiebreak in the Wimbledon quarterfinals after winning the title on grass at Eastbourne leading into it.
    He has risen to a career high No. 12 in the world so coming into the Open this year he is stoked and will play qualifier Brandon Holt in his opening match. Holt is the son of former Open champion and television commentator Tracy Austin. 
   “I'm super excited to be playing,” Fritz said at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Friday. “I think this year I'm coming into the tournament with more confidence, more belief in what I can do here than any other year.”
     The main competition in Fritz’s quarter of bracket is No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. Making passage a little easier for all the aspirants is the absence of icon Novak Djokovic (can’t enter country as unvaccinated non-citizen) and Alexander Zverev (recovering from a severe ankle injury).
    Both beating Nadal at Indian Wells and playing a rugged fifth set against at Wimbledon was huge for Fritz’ ego.
      “It was really, really good for me because I kind of just went through the draw, played a lot of solid matches, got all the way to the quarterfinals. Hadn't dropped a set,” said Fritz. “That's honestly what it takes to go deep at the Grand Slams, is to not really set yourself back by playing these crazy long matches in the beginning rounds, getting your body beat up.”
    He is dealing with a stress fracture in his left foot, but he says it’s not hampering his performance.
   When it was pointed out to him that he won the U.S. Open juniors in 2015, he responded: “Doesn’t feel like that long ago, that's why it's so crazy. It's a crazy thing I'm 24 now. I'm going to be 25 this year. I turned pro right before I won the juniors. I'm about halfway through my career, which is just crazy.”
    And maybe now it’s not so crazy to think he could win the U.S. Open.