Taylor Fritz cannot hold off Lorenzo Musetti at Wimbledon

The phrase "the wheels came off" is an overused one, but in the case of Taylor Fritz playing Lorenzo Musetti at Wimbledon, the wheels came off. That is especially true if one can relate one's legs to wheels because, in the fifth set, Fritz simply stopped moving around the court as well. He also should have likely never put himself in the position he did against the Italian.

There is little comparison between how consistently crisply Fritz can strike a ball versus what Musetti does, but sometimes simply hitting bombastic forehands and powerful serves won't get you a win. Musetti can hit with pace, but he will never overpower anyone. The American should have simply swept away the young Italian.

The issue with Fritz has always been his inconsistency. He changes from set to set and, sometimes, game to game. He moves well and has a solid backhand and a thunderous serve, but he has never come close to winning a Grand Slam. He won't be winning Wimbledon this year either.

Lorenzo Musetti defeats Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon

Musetti simply took advantage of nearly every chance he had against the American. Heading into the match, Fritz had only been broken twice in the tournament. Musetti got him six times. There was no drama to the final set of the five-set match because Musetti broke Fritz twice in the set alone. The set was 5-love Musetti before Fritz finally got a win. Musetti took the match 3-6 7-6(5) 6-2 3-6 6-1.

The Italian will now face Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Again, on paper, Musetti has little chance to beat the Serb. Djokovic hits the ball as well as Fritz but hits at angles the American cannot do consistently. Yet, Musetti almost seems like a player of destiny at Wimbledon 2024. He cannot be counted out against the best player to ever pick up a racket.

Djokovic, who had a walkover in his quarterfinal match against an injured Alex de Minaur, and Musetti have played one another six times with the Serb winning five times. Twice at the French Open, though, the matches went to five sets.

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