Taylor Fritz pulls off Wimbledon miracle over Alexander Zverev in fourth round
By Lee Vowell
There is hope for American men's tennis after all. The last time an American man won at Wimbledon was Pete Sampras in 2000. That was a bit of a golden age for American tennis because not only was Sampras picking up a lot of Grand Slam victories (so was Andre Agassi). Since that time, except for Andy Roddick, American men have not done much.
That might be changing. Tommy Paul was already in the quarterfinals ahead of the Taylor Fritz versus Alexander Zverev match. The two players had faced each other eight times before with the German winning five times. They had alternated their last seven meetings, however, so logically it was Fritz's turn to win, right?
Only the match did not start that way. Zverev had injured his knee a bit in the previous round and his leg was wrapped, but he did not seem overly hobbled. He served perfectly and out-hit Fritz in the longer rallies and took the first two sets. The American seemed destined to have a decent run at Wimbledon but then fell to a player that had mostly gotten the better of him.
Taylor Fritz pushes past Alexander Zverev and into Wimbledon quarterfinals
Instead, Fritz managed a late break in the third set to force a fourth. The next set was classic tennis. Each player's serve mirrored the other's and the set went to a tie-break. Fritz dominated the tie-break early, though, so a fifth set seemed inevitable.
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There was still a likelihood that Zverev could come through. He has won more bigger matches than the American, but the German also seemed to wilt a bit with his fitness while Fritz kept pushing through. In the end, it was the American's serve that stole the win. He got an early break off Zverev in the fifth and only needed to hold serve. He mostly did so with ease.
Fritz will now play Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the quarterfinals. The American has played Musetti three times before, including Wimbledon in 2022, and Fritz has won twice. There is even a chance Taylor Fritz could face Tommy Paul in an all-American final. No one would have expected that.
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