Fritz does what he never thought possible

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — This was early, about the time the uproar had been silenced into disbelief, their hero — good grief — having lost the opening four games when one of his super fans, the type who wave Spanish flags, shouted plaintively, “Let’s go Rafa.”

But on Sunday, Rafael Nadal wasn’t going anywhere. Except to his first loss in 21 matches this year, beaten 6-3, 7-6 (6) by Taylor Fritz, the guy who now may be going places.

Nobody goes undefeated (in the NFL, yes, the ‘72 Dolphins were the exception), particularly in a spurt where you’re traveling around the world and playing hurt, which Nadal was Sunday. So many types of courts. So many different opponents. So whlle Rafa, with his 21 Grand Slam championships, always is a story, Fritz in many ways is a bigger one.

Especially since he virtually grew up at Indian Wells, the desert resort owned by Larry Ellison (he was in the stands Sunday) a hundred miles or so from Fritz’s home in San Diego. Especially since Fritz, 24, is the first American to win the tournament since Andre Agassi some 20 years ago.

It’s a bit overboard to say this was a generational change for the sport in America, but the U.S. has been looking for some men who can perform like Jim Courier — who was there in the Tennis Channel booth at the BNP Paribas Open. Or Pete Sampras. Or Michael Chang. Or Andre Agassi. Or Andy Roddick (the last American to win a major, the 2003 U.S. Open).

Fritz wasn’t thinking so grandiosely. But this victory over the 35-year Nadal (whether or not Nadal had to call for the trainer after getting skunked in he first set) was transcendental in the hoping, the hype, and finally the win. Now, does Francis Tiafoe burst through the door?

Fritz, whose mother and father were tennis pros, said as a kid he thrilled to the cheers he heard for the great players and wanted to earn some on his own. Those came inside 23,000-seat Stadium One, where in an earlier match Iga Swiatek pounded wind-blown Maria Sakkari in the women’s final, 6-4, 6-1.

Fritz, who’s built like an outside linebacker, tweaked an ankle in his semifinal win on Saturday, but he wasn’t going to sit out a chance for glory. If Nadal could play with pain, a kid trying for a breakthrough was no less determined to be across the net.

“Yeah, I mean, I'm just so lucky I was able to go out there, play really well,” said Fritz, “and not be hindered at all by something that I thought.”

Fritz was asked if he could put into words his emotions, and he tried mightily.

”I mean, no. It's like after the match I kept saying, I'm going to cuss, but I said no effing way, no effing way, I can't believe it's real. I signed the camera, I just put question marks. Stunned. Couldn't even believe it. Seriously, this is like a childhood dream come true, like a wild dream you never expect to actually happen. It really hasn't even sunk in.”

It will, and he’ll become a target, the player everyone will want to beat, the way Fritz wanted to beat the big guns.

“I think to do it against Rafa in the end that's like the, I don't know, icing on the cake,” said Fritz. “It's just insane. Someone that I watched like dominate, win everything.

“I didn't watch a ton of tennis growing up, but it's tough to not know these guys, knowing they're literally winning everything, their Grand Slam finals, all their battles. It's insane to even be on the same court with these people, much less be able to beat one of them, to win such a big tournament. To do it here in Indian Wells, as well, the combination of all these crazy things that I never thought possible.”

But as we found out and Taylor Fritz showed, they are possible.