Taylor Fritz blown away by Roger Federer's 2006 season: "I can't begin to tell you how insane playing 97 matches in one year is"
Taylor Fritz expressed his respect for Roger Federer after learning about the 20-time Grand Slam champion's exploits during the 2006 ATP Tour. Federer reigned supreme on the tennis tour in 2006, bagging an incredible 12 titles and winning 92 matches.
Federer entered the 2006 season after finishing year-end No. 1 for two previous seasons and continued his excellent form. The Swiss played 18 tournaments on the 2006 ATP Tour and reached the final of every event except one. He also reached the final of all the Grand Slams that year and emerged victorious in three.
Federer won the Australian Open, Wimbledon Championships, and the US Open and lost to Rafael Nadal in the French Open title showdown. In addition, the Swiss maestro was the winner at the four Masters tournaments (Indian Wells, Miami, Toronto and Shanghai), four ATP 250s (Doha, Halle, Tokyo and Basel), and the year-end championship.
In 2006, Federer held an astounding 92-5 win-loss record. Only two players beat the Swiss that year - Rafael Nadal (4x) and Andy Murray (1x). A graphic comparing the 2024 season of the current World No. 1 Jannik Sinner with Federer's 2006 season, Nadal's 2010 season (71-10 W/L record, seven titles) and Novak Djokovic's 2015 season (82-6 W/L record, 11 titles) recently went viral on social media platform X.
The post caught the eye of American No. 1 Taylor Fritz, who gave his take on Roger Federer's dominance in 2006. Fritz was stunned to find out that the Swiss played 97 matches in one year, especially when Masters tournament finals were five-set matches at the time. He tweeted:
"I can’t begin to tell you how INSANE playing 97 matches in one year is (Roger 2006) Especially back when Masters finals were 3/5 sets as well."
Jannik Sinner sat atop the ATP ranking at the end of 2024 with eight titles under his belt. The Italian won the Australian Open, US Open, Miami Open, Cincinnati Open, Shanghai Masters, Halle Open, ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam and ATP Finals. The 22-year-old ended his year by winning a second consecutive Davis Cup for his nation.
Taylor Fritz played 76 matches in 2024, won two titles
Taylor Fritz recently concluded the most successful season of his career after finishing 2024 as the World No. 4, his highest ranking ever. The American played 76 matches this year, winning 53 of them. The primary driver of Fritz's surge on the tour was his performances at Grand Slams.
He reached two quarterfinals (Australian Open and Wimbledon) and qualified for his maiden Grand Slam final at the US Open, losing to Jannik Sinner in the final. Taylor Fritz won 17 matches at Majors this year, making 2024 his best Grand Slam season.
The 27-year-old picked up two titles on the 2024 ATP Tour (Delray Beach and Eastbourne) and won the men's doubles bronze medal at the Paris Olympics alongside Tommy Paul. Taylor Fritz also finished runner-up at the 2024 ATP Finals.