Taylor Fritz and Gabriel Diallo played perhaps the most wonderful of old-school grass-courts matches in the second round of Wimbledon 2025. Fritz had barely survived his first-round match against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and then ran into another huge server in the second round.
If nothing else, Fritz has to be asking how he ended up with the draw he did. Did the tennis gods hate him, or simply the organizers of this year's Wimbledon? The ATP No. 5, and therefore fifth-seed of the grass-court major, began by facing the biggest server on tour, and then followed that up by taking on a 6'8" Canadian with another massive serve.
What kept Fritz afloat was the technical brilliance of his serve. Does he hit with the bombast of Mpetshi Perricard? Nope, and maybe not even Diallo, but he does know when to take a bit off to throw his opponent off balance.
Taylor Fritz finds a way through Gabriel Diallo in the second round of Wimbledon 2025
He is a smart player and understands the ebbs and flows of any given match. Diallo might become the best Canadian player in years, but he isn't at Fritz's level mentally. Not yet anyway. The shock came early, however.
Diallo got a break from the American to take the first set 6-3. Fritz then came back to win the next two sets 6-3 7-6(0), but then lost the fourth set 4-6. What might have been telling is the third set tie-break, though. For the 23-year-old Canadian to win zero points foretold how the fifth set might go.
Fritz is likely never to reach No. 1 on the ATP tour, but he has been an excellent player. His tennis IQ is high, too, but even more importantly, he doesn't get too high in the best moments or too low at his worst. When Diallo took the first and fourth sets, he sometimes reacted as if he had command of the match. He didn't.
Neither did Fritz, until the American gota break midway through the fifth set to lead 4-2. As well as he was likely to serve, that was probably going to be the difference in the match. He was challenged only slightly and held to make the set 5-2, and only needed a hold to move on the the third round where he would surely not have to play another five-set match against a huge server.
In the end, Fritz took the final set 6-4.
He probably won't as he will face the winner of the Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Botic Van De Zandschulp match on Friday. The American is barely hanging on, but playing some great grass-court players.