Taylor Fritz was dealt a sobering home truth by an ageing Novak Djokovic at the US Open… any hopes of bridging the gap to the elite remain far-fetched

Taylor Fritz entered his 11th showdown with Novak Djokovic on Tuesday night desperate to banish the most depressing of streaks after losing all 10 of their previous encounters. This time, though, he knew what was required to finally sink the all-time great and reach the semifinals of the US Open for a second straight year.

‘Against the top guys I learned that in those moments, because you’re playing someone [who is at] where they’re at for a reason, they’re not just going to hand it over to you, they’re not just going to give you a random mistake on a big point.

‘You have to pull the trigger and go out and take it from them.’

Over the course of the first set Fritz was presented with as many as five opportunities to pull the trigger and break Djokovic’s serve. On all five occasions he failed to do so, albeit largely due to the brilliance of the 24-time Grand Slam champion rather than his own shortcomings. Novak eventually went on to win the opener 6-3.

Another five break points then initially came the American’s way in the second, and again every one of them was squandered as Djokovic stormed 5-4 ahead to serve for the set. That was until, at long last, he got over the line at the 11th time of asking to draw level in a crucial moment.

Yet just as his biggest glimmer of hope had emerged, and nearly 24,000 fans began whipping up a deafening noise inside a buoyant Arthur Ashe Stadium, Fritz sucked the life out of them once more when a disastrous service game gifted Djokovic immediate revenge. Like he did with all 10 of his unsuccessful break points, the home favorite pumped up the New York crowd like a party balloon before popping it by mistake.

Again Fritz paid the price as Djokovic held his nerve to snatch a 7-5 win in the second, with a collective groan quietly spreading around the arena in anticipation of the inevitable result. And while he at least managed to restore some pride by coming out on top in the third (6-3), those demoralizing first two sets simply left him with too vast of a mountain to climb here against an icon of the sport, who closed out the match with a 6-4 win in the fourth.

More worryingly, an 11th straight defeat to Djokovic – and this time an ageing Djokovic playing on the last of his legendary legs – proves that Fritz remains miles away from bridging the gap to the sport’s elite.

By no means did he perform badly tonight at Flushing Meadows but that is what should come as the greatest concern. If this performance wasn’t good enough to take more than one set from a veteran widely expected to come unstuck himself when he meets the ferocious No 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals, then what hope is there of America’s top-ranked player ever winning a Grand Slam of his own?

Fritz, who was ranked three places above seventh-seed Djokovic because of the latter’s disregard for anything but Slams at this stage of his career, has ambitions to mix it with the likes of Alcaraz and world No 1 Jannik Sinner, who cruised past him in last year’s US Open final. 

Though as his match-losing double fault showed glaringly, he still has some way to go to even pick out the sport’s two current titans on the horizon, let alone trump them to capture a major championship of his own.

There is no shame for Fritz when glancing at the majority of statistics from his sobering defeat to Djokovic in New York City. His 42 unforced errors only just edged Novak’s tally of 40, while he hit more returns in (73 percent compared to Djokovic’s 70) and claimed more of his first-serve points (82 percent compared to 72 percent).