🆚 Face-to-face
Cast your minds back to Indian Wells 2016 and Tiafoe was hailed victor over three sets in their first clash. Since then, all on hard courts too, Fritz has raced 6-1 up in their head-to-head. Of course that gives Fritz an edge, on the other hand, Tiafoe is a different beast in New York, under the lights, competing on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
🎤 Heard in media
Taylor Fritz: "Foe, I mean that's going to be a lot of fun, and that's going to be just electric. Yeah, I think it's awesome for the fans to be guaranteed that one of us is going to be going to the finals," said the American No.1, relieved to break the Grand Slam quarter-final barrier. "I guess my three quarters before were Novak (Djokovic), Novak, and Rafa (Nadal). I think that was my way to just protect my ego. (Laughter).
"So then I got one where I played (Lorenzo) Musetti (at Wimbledon 2024) and he outplayed me and I lost. I think that's when I was, like, "Okay, maybe that excuse doesn't quite work out anymore (smiling)."
Frances Tiafoe: "It's different on Ashe, man. Obviously you have to learn from those. You know, couple of those I thought I actually should have won," said Tiafoe, referring to his 1-6 record taking on Fritz. "He's a tough player. He plays great from both sides, has a great serve, he's moving much better now.
"Yeah, man, he was funny, man, when we were younger. I think as we got closer to it, seeing how committed he is and how much he wanted it, once we all kind of turned pro, we all just pushed each other to want to be great. You know, sometimes unspoken; sometimes you speak about it. But nobody wants to leave each other behind. It's been a special thing to be a part of… it's going to be interesting, man. We'll see what happens."