Once again, Taylor Fritz won another match, beating J.J. Wolf 6-3, 7-5, and now he is in the final at Atlanta. In early February, he won Delray Beach, and he looked very good, but then he went down, gradually. Now the 25-year-old is back on the hardcourts, and his confidence is rising. However, to play 100 percent, he will have to be substantially better, and he knows that. As he said: “The Tour doesn’t reward consistency as much as it does boom by winning titles or bust when you lose in the first round. I started this year pretty strong and have had more consistent results than last year,” Fritz said. “I’ve gotten a lot more into a lot of tournaments this year, but I’ve let slip some matches that I maybe didn’t let slip last year.”
The same thing happened with Alexander Zverev, who reached into the final at the Hamburg European Open. He was in the top five, and he won a number of some huge events, but in 2022, he badly hurt his leg at Roland Garros in the semis, and he could not play for seven months. He did come back, but it takes him a good while. He is a forceful hitter, with his forehand and his backhand are very strong, but he can also disappear during the matches. He can be angry, when he is not playing well, but he can re-set it. He has won 19 titles, so it is time to grab it, again. He will face against the Serbian, Laslo Djere
“When I’m pain-free I enjoy tennis a lot. Yeah, the last year or so, not year yet, but since June there were a lot of times where that wasn’t the case. It took me a very long time to come back,” Zverev said. “ So even tournaments like Australia, I was still very limited to what I was able to do. I was still not completely pain-free, not being able to move the way I want to move. It’s definitely going into the other direction now.”
The three-time Grand Slam champion, Stan Wawrinka, has reached the final in Imag, Croatia. It is back on clay, after he lost at Wimbledon against Novak Djokovic in the third round, and the 38-year-old did not play, great. But when he is on, his one-handed backhand has so much spin, and he can control it. It would be amazing to win a Slam again, but that is highly unlikely. However, to win any tournament, that would be super special. But first, he has to beat the Aussie, Alexei Popyrin, on Sunday, who will give it, all. So put it up, and drive, for it.