Taylor Fritz is the most dominant men's player in the short history of the Eastbourne Open. That might sound odd because while Fritz has been good for a long time, he has never been among the elite of his sport for extended amounts of time. But after the 2025 Eastbourne final, he has now won the event four times.
That is more than any other men's player, and, most importantly, was Fritz's second grass-court title in June. This implies he is ready to make the deepest run at Wimbledon, which begins on June 30, in his career. His best finish so far has been making the quarterfinals twice (2022 and 2024).
Fritz should also hope his trend of succeeding at one tournament and then failing in the next doesn't hold. Sandwiched between his Stuttgart and Eastbourne titles was a loss in his first match at Queen's Club. Just don't ask Jenson Brooksby if he thinks Fritz will fail at Wimbledon.
Taylor Fritz makes easy work of Jenson Brooksby in the final of the Eastbourne Open
In the first set of the final of Eastbourne, Fritz started slowly. He barely hung on in his first service game, missing on his first serve quite a bit, a weapon that is normally his most reliable. Brooksby did get the break in game five, but Fritz got the break back. Any momentum that Brooksby had at that point seemed to cease. He was broken in the final game of the set as Fritz took it 7-5.
Fritz was never at his highest level during the match. He was clearly the better player, but he made more unforced errors than he usually does. Brooksby's first serve was not overpowering, and neither was his forehand, but Fritz kept getting himself in unusual situations.
The second set held far less drama. Fritz got a break of Brooksby to take a 3-1 lead, held easily, and then got a second straight break to set up serving out the match. Once Fritz got his footing in the first set, he took 11 of the next 14 games. He won the match 7-5 6-1. It was his fourth title at Eastbourne.
Brooksby was a winner for the week just by reaching the final, though. He began the event ranked No. 149, far below his career high of 33 in June 2022. By reaching the final, Brooksby will rise to No. 101.
Fritz will rise too, back to No. 5, but Wimbledon could change everything. If he becomes the first American to win the grass-court major since Pete Sampras in 2000, he could move back to No. 4 with an outside chance at No. 3.
Of course, we aren't there yet, and Fritz could be bounced out earlier than expected at Wimbledon. He plays the huge-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round. Mpetshi Perricard's game is tailor-made for grass courts.