It is a very interesting start to Taylor Fritz’s grass court season as he looks to build up on some good form before the Wimbledon championships later this month. Fritz’s itinerary consisted of the BOSS Open in Stuttgart and the Queen’s Club Championships in London before heading to Wimbledon. Stuttgart is a 250 event and Queen’s a 500 event. Two good runs here would give him some familiarity with the surface not many succeed on. It would also give him some crucial points to secure a good seed before the Grand Slam.
Fritz sees contrasting fortunes in a span of days
Preparations started in the most ideal manner for the American as he blew away his first round opponent Quentin Halys in straight sets. Fantastically the level of his performances just rose as the tournament progressed. He saw out Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semifinals. His final frontier for the event was German Alexander Zverev. Fritz produced his best performance of the week, snatching the title from the German in no time as he won 6-3 7-6.
Bagging 250 points in Stuttgart, Fritz would have expected a Queen’s semifinal from himself at the least. However, the American couldn’t replicate even half of his run the previous week as Frenchman Corentin Moutet was ruthless in his approach. Fritz took the first set in the tiebreak for Moutet to level the sets by winning the second in a longer tiebreak. The Frenchman then raised the level of his tennis to steal a crucial break in the third to end Fritz’s chances. A title winning run followed by a first round exit is a rare build up to the Wimbledon.
Taylor Fritz, a two-time quarterfinalist at the Championships, will obviously be hoping to match or improve on that this time around. However, it will be interesting if doubts have crept in after the early exit. It will also be interesting to see how he performs at the Eastbourne International next week. Maybe he’ll get some grass rhythm back.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
