Fritz on Djokovic: 'Hopefully one of these times I'm due'

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/taylor-fritz/fb98/overview'Taylor Fritz/a has a chance to add more success to his already unforgettable season Saturday in Shanghai./p
pPlaying a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/novak-djokovic/d643/overview'Novak Djokovic/a in the semi-finals at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/shanghai/5014/overview'Rolex Shanghai Masters/a, the No. 7 player in the PIF ATP Rankings will hope to get his first win against the Serb. The former World No.1 holds an overwhelming 9-0 lead in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, in which the American has only won three sets./p
p“Hopefully one of these times I'm due, because I'm only getting better and better, and I'm excited at the opportunity to play him,” Fritz said./p
p“We [have] played a lot of times, and I've never gotten him, so I'm really, really just waiting for that. Excited for the chance and waiting for that time when maybe I can get a first win on him."/p
p[ATP APP] /p
pThis is perhaps Fritz's best chance if he is to notch a first victory against the 99-time tour-level champion. Since the last time they played at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/australian-open/580/overview'Australian Open/a earlier this year, Fritz has won two titles and has made great strides at big tournaments, including his first major final at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a in September, where he fell to No. 1 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a. As a result, the 26-year-old is up to the fifth spot in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and is in prime position to qualify for the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a for the second time./p
p“This year, I have felt like I've been in a better rhythm with my serve. There's been times where it hasn't felt maybe as good as I would like it to, but especially in the last match and then this match, even more so in the second set of this match, I feel like I'm serving a good percentage and hitting spots very well,” he shared./p
p“If a lot of my results this year, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a included, [have] taught me anything, it's that I don't need to be playing perfect to have deep runs in tournaments and to have big results. Just my average level has improved a lot, and it's gotten me to a level where, if I compete really hard and focus really hard, a lot of times it will be enough to get me deep in the tournaments.”/p

blockquote class="twitter-tweet"p lang="en" dir="ltr"Fritz ???? Djokovicbr /br /Ball bludgeoning ????a href="https://twitter.com/Taylor_Fritz97?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@Taylor_Fritz97/a is leading the Serve a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ShotQuality?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#ShotQuality/a leaderboard this week, and a href="https://twitter.com/DjokerNole?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@DjokerNole/a is back to his best from the back of the court ????br /br /Game on ❗a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TennisInsights?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#TennisInsights/a | a href="https://twitter.com/atptour?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@atptour/a | a href="https://twitter.com/RolexSHMasters?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@RolexSHMasters/a a href="https://t.co/HGq1biAa8a"pic.twitter.com/HGq1biAa8a/a/pmdash; Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) a href="https://twitter.com/tennis_insights/status/1844756305057083575?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"October 11, 2024/a/blockquote script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"/script

pDespite having played more than 60 matches (49-19 record according to Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index) this year, Fritz feels it is important to continue powering through, aiming for a strong finish as the end of the season approaches./p
p“We're coming up on the home stretch, and when I kind of get deeper into a tournament, past the first couple [of] rounds, it gets a lot easier for me to really lock in and give it absolutely everything I have. So, I feel good, as good as I can feel after playing [so] many matches."/p
p[NEWSLETTER FORM] /p