He gave too much credit to Novak," Fritz's coach criticizes his player
0-11—that is now the record Taylor Fritz holds against Novak Djokovic. Beaten at home (6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4) in the quarterfinals of the US Open, the American once again failed to get the upper hand over his opponent. A disappointing performance that did not sit well with his coach, Michael Russell. Indeed, the latter did not hesitate to express his thoughts on ESPN's microphone:
"The game at 5-5 in the second set was atrocious. He gave too much credit to Novak. He just needed to stay in the rally and find a forehand to exploit. It's largely psychological; he's lost to him ten times, but this is the US Open. He should have engaged the crowd and relaxed."
For his part, Fritz had this to say in the post-match press conference:
"I had so many other opportunities that don't show up in the statistics. I was tied at 30-0, 15-30, 30-30. I just played those points very poorly. I simply made bad decisions because I wasn't playing as well as I wanted to. I can't afford to lose the first two sets to love.
I need to play better. That's what's frustrating. I don't need to play much better to get there because I had every chance on my side playing the way I was, and I just need to improve my serve a little bit.
