Taylor Fritz compares first match against Carlos Alcaraz to facing Big 3, says Spaniard gave him less breathing room than Federer, Nadal, Djokovic
Taylor Fritz feels Carlos Alcaraz's game is more suffocating than the Big 3 of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. After facing the current world No. 1 for the first time on Thursday, Fritz stressed that he had 'more breathing room' on the court when facing the Big 3 than he had against Alcaraz.
Alcaraz beat Fritz with a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 scoreline in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Miami Open. The 19-year-old Spaniard is now two wins away from becoming the youngest man ever to win the Sunshine Double.
After the match Fritz was all praise for his opponent's supreme level of tennis, which he found tougher to manage than the Big 3's level.
"I definitely felt like I had more breathing room against those guys (Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic) than in this match," Taylor Fritz said in a press conference after the quarter-final against Alcaraz.
Fritz also highlighted the challenge against Djokovic, who he feels can gradually overwhelm opponents with his consistency. However, he still felt like he had more chances to make an impact when facing the Serbian great than he did against Alcaraz.
"I think that, you know, it's different game styles. Novak will have these long rallies, but he'll kind of slowly get you out of position and overwhelm me. I still feel like I can hang in these rallies for a long time and get more chances to attack," Fritz continued.
The World No. 10 stated that Alcaraz 'hurt' him with his brilliant shot-making ability, right from the beginning of the match.
"I think that I'd go back to the first couple games of the match. He just winner off of a lot of shots, winners and shots that hurt me off of a lot of shots that people normally aren't hurting me off of," Fritz added. "I just felt he was more offensive and pressed me a lot more."
Alcaraz will retain the World No. 1 ranking if he wins the Miami Open title, thus keeping second-ranked Djokovic at bay.
Taylor Fritz feels Carlos Alcaraz is better than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic were at the same age
Taylor Fritz also opined that Carlos Alcaraz is a more complete player than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic were at the age of 19. The American feels Alcaraz does not have any particular weaknesses in his game despite being so young, and that he has "so many tools" which allows him to use different strategies against different players.
"You know, it's very rare to see someone so young so, I guess, just developed in their game and not really have anything that they need to work on so much," Taylor Fritz further said on Carlos Alcaraz.
"He has tons of different ways to play, and he can incorporate tons of different game plans to play different players because he has so many tools to win a match. I think that's something that I wouldn't say any of those people had at such a young age."
Taylor Fritz's Sunshine Double campaign ended with quarterfinal runs at both Indian Wells and Miami. Meanwhile, Alcaraz will now compete with Jannik Sinner for a spot in the 2023 Miami Open final.
This will be the sixth meeting between the two. Alcaraz holds a 3-2 lead in their head-to-head, having won most recently in the Indian Wells semifinals two weeks ago.