Sinner-Fritz round-robin at ATP Finals was nothing like one-sided US Open final, says Fritz

Jannik Sinner enters Sunday’s ATP Finals title-decider as a commanding favourite to beat Taylor Fritz and end the year in style. The world No 1 also has a number of things in his favour.

Sinner goes into the final on a 10-match winning streak and on a stretch of 25 wins in his past 26 matches, his lone loss coming to Carlos Alcaraz in the Beijing final. He bids to become the first Italian to win the season-ending finale and could be the first man to win the title without losing a set since Ivan Lendl in 1986. He would be the first winner born in the 2000s and the first player to do it on home soil since Andy Murray at 2016 London.

Sinner also leads his head to head with Fritz 3-1, including a round-robin clash this week and of course, the US Open final, which Sinner won for his second slam title. Fritz, who won their first meeting at Indian Wells in 2021, 6-4 6-3, said the US Open and round-robin clashes were like chalk and cheese.

“Conditions are very different here as opposed to the Open,” he said. “One thing I said in the interview after I played him here already was just (that the) US Open felt like I was kind of just trying to keep myself in with my serve, stay alive, win points by hitting big shots or playing off of his errors. Kind of just like not repeatable, consistent ways to win points. I was just trying to, like, stay alive.

“The match we played here, I didn’t feel like that. It didn’t feel anywhere near as one-sided as the Open. I felt like the match for me felt closer than just like 4 and 4.”

Sinner “took his chances”

The round-robin meeting, Fritz said, came down to a few points here and there.

“I felt very, like, much more comfortable from the baseline. I had my chances in that match. I had chances to break him in both sets. He had an equal (number) of chances, and he took his. He played the big points better than I did in the group stage match,” he said.

“Like I said, he played the big points better. He’s the best player in the world. He’s playing with a lot of confidence. That’s something that you have to expect from him, to play the big points really well.

“I’ve made a lot of improvements in my game. For me at the US Open, the biggest thing was, like, I just didn’t honestly play great. I didn’t serve great. If I don’t serve well, it sets up the rest of my game for failure, I’d say.”

History repeating itself

It’s also the 21st time in tournament history the singles finalists are meeting for the second time during the event, with the loser of the round-robin match going on to reverse the result in the final on 12 of 20 previous occasions, including last year when Novak Djokovic avenged the round robin loss to Sinner in the final.

“Obviously the person that wins is going to go into the match playing exactly the same way they did to win,” Fritz said. “You’re not going to win and then change your strategy. Obvious the losing player is going to know that and understand that, maybe know what to expect a bit more.

“It also could be a bit of a psychological factor as one person feels like they are the underdog, one person feels like they are the big favourite. Sometimes when you have that dynamic, the person that’s the favorite will play the match a little tighter. The person that feels like they have nothing to lose will play the match a bit looser. Also a big part of it is just coincidence and luck as well.”

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