Taylor Fritz soars in a career-best performance

An emergency post in honor of the No. 1 American proving his mettle and then some.

The win predictor—which should be retired for many reasons—gave Taylor Fritz (5) an 18% chance of beating Carlos Alcaraz (1) when they stepped on court Saturday night. It was a bit extreme, given the relative closeness of their Wimbledon semifinal match, but it accurately reflected a widespread lack of faith in Fritz as well as the invincible aura of Alcaraz.

As you guys know, I’ve been in the camp of believing the Fritz of the past two years has it in him to beat Sincaraz and Novak Djokovic if he could only get out of his own way—cut back on the overthinking, play with more confidence and less fear. Just yesterday I was lamenting his recent big match “yips,” in which he plays great for a good portion of the match but then gets tight in the key moments.

He did the opposite of that last night, playing freely, fearlessly, and betting on himself with every shot. He shut down many of Alcaraz’s magical mystery shots and was great at the net (the net!), all on a slow hard court closer to clay…