At Wimbledon, this Taylor makes sweet music

It wasn’t so much that Taylor Fritz’ reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, no small accomplishment for an American, it was the way he did it.

Fritz lost the first two sets to Alexander Zverev, who at number 4 is ranked above him and has won two Grand Slam titles, and then came rolling back for a 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-3 victory which was as meaningful as it was exciting. For American men’s tennis that is. US ladies have done well enough, because of the Williams sisters and now Emma Navarro has appeared (and knocked out bewildered Coco Gauff). 

However, no American man has won a Wimbledon singles title since Pete Sampras. That was in 2000 when Fritz, now 26, wasn’t even a year old. Not that anyone believes that with Novak Djokovic (a seven-time winner), defending champ Carlos Alcaraz, or the top player in the rankings, Jannik Sinner, Fritz will get that title. Still, he is there, and that’s progress.  

So he’s not the most famous individual on the globe with the first name of Taylor (yes, Ms. Swift is). Fritz can make sweet music when the ball flies off the racquet strings and makes pleasant sounds when the racquet meets the ball. We’re not talking music here, although there can be a sweet sound when a ball flies off the racquet strings.

U.S. men’s tennis is longing for the days when Sampras, Andre Agassi, Michael Chang and Jim Courier were greedily collecting grand slams. The U.S. tennis establishment has been promising (and hoping) for a return to the good—not-so-old days.

Fritz, Francis Tiafoe and Tommy Paul were mentioned perhaps all too frequently of being the cast that returned America to where it used to be in the men’s game. Sort of like waiting for the Giants to finish in front of the Dodgers. At least Fritz remains at Wimbledon into the quarters where he will face Lorenzo Musetti of Italy. They have met on three previous occasions, with the American winning two of them.

“It was amazing,” said Fitz of his victory. “To do that on Centre Court at Wimbledon, two sets down.”

Centre County, under the roof, the weather almost from the start of the Wimbledon fortnight has been traditional, rain.

As almost everyone knows Fritz grew up with the game. His mother, Kathy May, was a champion, and his father, Guy Fritz, was a coach. Taylor grew up in Southern California, where he quickly showed his skills. He skipped college, turned pro early, and has been more than a minimal success, taking Indian Wells in 2022.

At the time that was big. Now he is chasing something bigger.

A day of a lot of tennis is too much for Fritz

INDIAN WELLS — That problem for Taylor Fritz, the town reminding him he was the defending champ in the BNP Paribas Open? It’s no longer around.

Neither is Fritz.  

Jannik Sinner, an Italian who moved from a possible career in skiing to a definite career in tennis, ousted Fritz, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 Thursday in their quarterfinal at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

You can debate whether it was an upset — Fritz was fifth in the ATP rankings, Sinner, 13th — there is no question for the fans shouting for the guy from southern California, it was a disappointment.

Whether you liked the results from this Thursday when the temperature would reach 72, you had the format and the entertainment.

The term March Madness has been copyrighted by the NCAA for another sport that uses nets and balls, so we’ll just refer to what was almost nine hours of activity as Racquet Revelry.

It began a good time before noon — you hate to describe matches involving the women’s Wimbledon champ and the No. 1 player in the women’s rankings — as warm up competition.

It closed after 8 p.m., not quite closing time around Palm Springs, but you’d better move quickly.

Elena Rybakina, who in July won Wimbledon, defeated Karolina Muchova, 7-6, 2-6, 6-4.

Then the sun set especially on ex-champ, Fritz.

Then, after the lights came on, Carlos Alcaraz, the No. 1 and also the Wimbledon champ, defeated the man who he had never previously beaten, Félix Auger-Aliassime, 6-4, 6-4.

Is that enough for you? It was more than enough for the 25-year-old Fritz, who was knocked out by a kid even younger, Sinner, who’s 21.

Asked if there was anything positive he could take from the match, Fritz said. “Not really. No, it’s a tough match. You know, I found a way to get back in it and into the third and got it back. I don’t know. I put myself in a decent chance to win, but in the end, I just couldn’t make it happen.”

Fritz said the wind, which often blows in the desert, increased in the afternoon which had an effect on the match.

“Obviously I wanted to keep going. I wanted to defend.”

And hear his friends and neighbors remind him he was a champion. 

Which he was.

Indian Wells defending champ plays like one

INDIAN WELLS — The only trouble with being the defending champion is that everyone keeps reminding you that you’re the defending champion. As Taylor Fritz has learned at the BNP Paris Tennis Open where, yes, he is defending champion.

Fritz also is sort of a local, having lived, worked out and competed in this desert community. Which makes it well, worse hardly is the appropriate word when, in fact, you’re adding a footnote to success.

The defending champ — last reference — played like one Monday in the BNP Paribas Open, defeating Sebastian Baez of Argentina, 6-1, 6-2. Since the match was only 1 hour, 10 minutes, you might say, borrowing the cliché, that Fritz hardly raised a sweat. But on a day when the thermometer reached 82 degrees Fahrenheit all you needed to perspire was to blink your eyes.

Which is all Baez had time to do against Fritz, who at No. 5 is the highest American in the men’s rankings, damn impressive for an American who’s 25. Or any age.

Some would provide a disclaimer on the one-sided Fritz victory, pointing out Baez is a clay court specialist, and the courts at Indian Wells are very hard indeed.  No thanks.

Rafael Nadal felt most comfortable (and was most successful) on clay courts. But he also won on the grass at Wimbledon and the hard courts everywhere. 

If you can play, you can play whatever the surface or conditions.

Fritz, the son of two tennis parents (his mother Kathy May reached the quarters at the U.S. Open) can play. He and Francis Tiafoe — and now maybe newbie Ben Shelton — are supposed to be the future of U.S. men’s tennis, part of the so-called “Next Gen.”

Maybe, but Monday, Fritz was magnificent. Then again, Baez was bewildered.

Fritz’s problem would seem to be his own body. Two weeks ago after a match in the humidity of Acapulco, Mexico, Fritz had severe cramps. And throughout his career, he’s had numerous injuries.

“I have no idea why,” said Fritz when asked if he could explain the ailments. “I think I’ve been very lucky, but obviously I do recover from things very quickly. I think a lot of that has to do with my willpower, and like I hate to be out.  I hate to be injured.”

For the time, Fritz is healthy and thinking positively. He’s done his best to avoid the praise from the gang. He appears wise and experienced enough not to fall into the trap of arrogance.

 “Like every hour or so people keep telling me I’m defending here. But I am trying to take it how it is. You know we start over at zero.  I’m trying to have good results, trying to put myself in the best position to end the year at the highest spot.”

A win in a match that barely went two hours would seem Taylor Fritz is headed in the proper direction.

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.

Fritz wins, and Rafa enters the picture

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Taylor Fritz was talking about what some would say was the biggest win of a growing career, and there over his shoulder in the interview room at Indian Wells was a television shot of, yes, Rafael Nadal.

That’s the way it is in tennis, a sport where you virtually aren’t allowed to get your moments without somebody else intruding, if unintentionally.

There’s always another game, another match, especially at the BNP Paribas Open, where the action is compressed to a point you wonder not so much who’s on the court but who isn’t.

On Saturday, in the usual 80-degree-plus temperature of the California desert in March, Fritz, the underdog if only barely, knocked off Andrey Rublev, 7-5, 6-4.

Then in the other half of a doubleheader that filled the 23,000-seat Stadium One, Rafa (phew) made it by fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

That puts Fritz and Nadal into the Sunday final of an event that’s a notch or two down from the Grand Slams. They’ll play following the women’s final between Iga Swiatek and Maria Sakkari.

The action really is compressed, and yes, the ladies deserve a separate day for their own final. But unless the Gregorian calendar can be revised, things aren’t going to change.

What’s changed for Fritz, the native southern Californian (lower case, he didn’t attend any university, much less USC), is that he’s become as effective with the forehand as the backhand.

That’s according to Andrey Rublev, whom Fritz defeated.

Rublev, higher ranked (eighth) than Fritz (16th), is the Russian who with a felt-tip pen a few weeks ago scribbled an anti-war message on a television camera lens.

Fritz, 24 (born Oct. 28, 1997), is exactly a week younger than Rublev, one of those bits of trivia that contribute to sporting interest.

His mother, Kathy May, was a tennis champion; His father, Guy, played professionally and coached. Taylor’s destiny was decided early. His success came later as a pro, Fritz battling all those eastern Europeans.

He played Nadal a couple of years back, but Rafa was more experienced, polished, and effective, toying with Fritz.

“I remember I felt like he kind of just played high spinny balls to me,” said Fritz about that match. “He like actually just gave me a lot of forehands in my favorite spot, like the shoulder-high one to like kind of slap flat, and I think he literally just kept doing it until like I missed eventually. I felt like almost baiting me to go for it.

“But yeah, I mean, I kind of beat myself trying to fire off winners against him. So I think my level's so much higher than then, so I won't, maybe won't be feeling like I need to pull the trigger so much, need to do so much. Like, I can kind of just play more within myself.”

Fritz is the first American male player to reach the Indian Wells finals since John Isner in 2012. The fact that it will be against Nadal, who is unbeaten in 20 matches this season (including that record-setting 21st major at the Australian Open), is another issue.

Still, he has taken a step beyond, and he’s satisfied as well he should be.

“When I hit (the final shot),” he said, “as soon as I hit the ball I was like, I think that's going to be good enough to win the point, and then, yeah, as soon as I saw that he hit it and it wasn't going to go on the court, I was just like, you know, so much relief and like, I mean, I just couldn't, you know, couldn't believe it.

“Those moments are like the reason why I wanted to be an athlete, wanted to play professional tennis. It's the best part of it all.”

Even when Rafa Nadal enters the picture.

Fritz likes the video — and his place in Indian Wells semis

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — This is how it is in tennis these days. Taylor Fritz has reached the Indian Wells semifinals and ranks first among American male players, but he’s still a distant second in popularity to the controversial video posted by his girlfriend.

Don’t you just love it? Fritz does, but others involved in his sport (the old boys) do not.

The hot news (in 87-degree weather, seemingly everything’s hot): Fritz, the 24-year-old from over the hill in San Diego, defeated his own nightmares (three double faults back-to-back-to-back in the second set) and Mimi Kecmanovic of Serbia, 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1.

So, for a second straight BNP Paribas tournament (the last one, a mere five months ago, was a drop-in due to COVID-19), Fritz is in the final four.

In one semi on Saturday, he’ll face Andrey Rublev, who defeated Grigor Dimitrov, 7-5. 6-2. In the other, a couple of Spaniards, young Carlos Alcaraz and not-so-young Rafael Nadal, face each other.

So you say tennis is nothing but hitting balls across a net (as compared to golf, hitting balls in a pasture)? That’s where Fritz’s gal, Morgan Riddle, enters the scene — or more accurately, her TikTok video enters the screen. 

It shows life on the tour, and it’s registered something like 3.7 million views. It’s aimed at non-tennis people, with explanations of the game’s scoring system (of course some quips about “love”) and a bit of self-indulgence. It mentions the importance of the Grand Slams; Fritz did make the fourth round of the Australian.

“I know tennis is relatively uncool and unknown in America,” Riddle said of the reason for the project. That in the video Riddle says she gets to have “champagne and strawberries and cream” at Wimbledon, as well as “getting to wear really cute outfits,” irritated some critics.  

At Indian Wells earlier in the week, Fritz said he believes the video is good for the sport. “I think what she did was awesome for our sport," he said. “It got a ton of people looking at it.

"I’m the one that’s a professional tennis player, I’m the one that does this for a living. I 100 percent agree with everything in that video.”

The win over Kecmanovic was no less agreeable, even with all those uncharacteristic double faults.

“I have no idea what that was,” said Fritz. “I've never done that in my life. Like, I actually have no idea. I literally forgot how to play.

“I really could have easily let that bother me a lot, let it affect me in the third set. I kind of just tried to laugh it off and forget about it. Kind of embarrassing. I think a lot of people saw that.”

Like everyone spread about 16,000-seat Stadium One, and those watching live on Tennis Channel.

“Yeah, I just regrouped in the third. I just told myself it was a fluke, that's not going to happen again. Told myself I had lots of chances to break serve in the second set. He only had the one where I literally forgot how to play tennis. I told myself to regroup, do the same thing.

“I did in the second set, take care of my serve, win those break points. That's what I did.”   

It worked, obviously, and quickly enough there was Fritz, like an actor at curtain call, his arms out, thanking the cheering fans.

“I have a lot of family here,” said Fritz. “I played Easter Bowl here when I was a kid. A lot of history. My dad is the coach at College of the Desert here. I'd come here when I was a kid for the tournament.

“Just a place I'm really familiar with it. It feels like a second home, really.”

No controversial videos, just acceptance.

Just win, baby — and Nadal, Fritz do just that

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Rafael Nadal keeps beating everyone he plays, and as sporting philosophers from Al Davis (“Just win, baby”) to Herman Edwards (“You play to win the game”) have told us, not much else matters. 

Sure, his victory over the 6-foot-11 Reilly Opelka in the BNP Paribas Open tournament was narrow. But it was a victory, the only sort of result Rafa has provided this year.

He won 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) on (what else?) an 80-degree-plus Wednesday afternoon in the desert, extending his streak since the start of year (and including the Australian Open) to 18-0.

Not only does that represent perfection, it sets up a Thursday match against the guy who is part athlete (a very large part) and part entertainer, the Australian Nick Kyrgios, who says he’d rather be in the NBA on a basketball court than in an open on a tennis court.

The way basketball people used to get excited about a matchup between LeBron James and Steph Curry in the golden days of the Lakers way back in 2019, tennis folk are anticipating Rafa vs. Nick.

And not because it’s the only thing they have. The almost local kid, Taylor Fritz of San Diego, was a winner, defeating Alex de Minauer 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

So, no Roger (sob) or Novak (No-vax) but some intriguing competitors. At least to some mavens. The writer in the Desert Sun even called Nadal-Kyrgios “must see” tennis.” Wow.

Records in tennis may not be as accurate as those in, say, baseball, but apparently Guillermo Vilas of Argentina won 34 straight matches in the 1970s and Djokovic 53 straight in 2010-11.

Rafa, then, has a long way to go, and even though he’s a mere 35, it’s doubtful he’ll get to the big numbers. Still, 17 without a blemish is not unimpressive.

Similar to any top-line athlete, he says he’s unconcerned with all the numbers except the ones on his scorecard at the conclusion of a match. Is that the Spanish version of “just win, baby”?

Asked if he was happy that he won in straight sets, Nadal had a response often repeated in a career that has produced 401 victories (a record 21 in Grand Slams): “Happy to win. Doesn’t matter how many sets.“

Unless maybe it’s the fifth set of a four-hour Wimbledon semifinal, and recovery tie for the final would be limited. Not that things like that ever affected Rafa.

“But I am happy of course to be in the quarterfinals of this great tournament, playing better without a doubt,” he added. “That's my best match of the tournament. Happy the way that I was able to play during the whole match. I only played one bad game with myself. For the rest, I think I played solid. I did what I had to do against a very difficult player to play, like Reilly.”

Nadal, a four-time winner at Indian Wells, has a winning record against Kyrgios as he has against virtually everyone else.

“(Thursday) is going to be a tough match, but we are in quarterfinals of Indian Wells,” he said. “I have to expect a very tough opponent.”

It’s difficult to say what Fritz expected against de Minauer, but he was behind quickly. Strange thoughts then creep through one’s mind.

”We were talking about this after the match,” said Fritz, who then used a term that makes some athletes cringe. “I'll choke some matches here and there, for sure. A lot of people do. But then I'll also clutch out a lot of matches like I have the last two days, and this one felt really — honestly, the last two third-set breakers I played have been really solid for me, not a lot I did wrong either one.”

Not when you’re the winner.

Isner's win brings back memories — and brings up hopes

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — There was John Isner, the bill of his cap turned the wrong way, as if he were a baseball catcher and not a tennis player. He had overcome an 87-degree temperature and Diego Schwartzman, 7-5, 6-3, in a third-round match of the BNP Paribas Open.

Meaning he’ll move on.

But for so many of us, John Isner provides an excuse to look back, remembering both his own historic match at Wimbledon and, for no particular reason, a time when Americans could win major tournaments.

Maybe they still are capable.

Not Isner, admittedly. True, he reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2018, but now he’s 36.

If a U.S. player is to break through, it will be somebody like Taylor Fritz or Francis Tiafoe, both 24.

Isner is still a player, as verified by his victory Tuesday over Schwartzman, who once was as high as eighth in the ATP rankings. He was one of four U.S. players to advance, including Fritz, who beat Alex de Minaur of Australia, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (2).

Fortunately or unfortunately, nationality plays an important role in tennis, alongside personality. With no team (other than the Davis Cup), the sport relies on fans supporting their men or women.

The greats, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, built an international reputation and following, but for the majority of tennis players where you’re from often counts as much as how you perform.

For a long time, the game seemingly belonged to American men. Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang won majors in the 1980s and 90s. But no U.S. player has taken a major since Andy Roddick won the U.S Open in 2003 — 19 years ago.

Isner made his run, with that big serve, but it wasn’t to be. His plaque on the wall at Wimbledon is for that 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68 victory over Nicolas Mahut that took more than 11 hours in 2010.

Wimbledon then changed the tie-break rules, so that record will remain forever.

So, at times, does it appear will the record for America going winless in majors.

The potential is out there, numerous fine young American tennis players, one of whom, Jenson Brooksby, upset a major finalist, Stefanos Tsitsipas, here on Monday night. Potential, but so what? When will it be realized, if ever? And why won’t it be realized?

The United States has more people (other than a couple of Asian nations), better facilities and supposedly a love of sports. Yes, “love” is the tennis term for “nothing,” yet it shouldn’t be applied here.

The explanations for America’s ineffectiveness at Wimbledon, Australia or the U.S. Open — we’ll concede, no chance on the clay at Roland-Garros — are based on the thought that tennis is a minor sport.

Russians play tennis, Serbs play tennis, Spaniards play tennis. Americans play football, baseball, basketball, hockey and golf. Maybe it was Tiger Woods, or maybe it was stars from other sports in pro-ams, but golf has the popularity that tennis seeks.

The U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York City draws more than 500,000 spectators. It’s an event as much as a championship. Does it help any kid in the country become the U.S. Open winner? See the blanks.

Fritz has been touted since he dominated others at Torrey Pines High School in San Diego. His father is involved in the U.S. national tennis teaching program. His mother, Kathy May, was a tremendous player. He turned down a scholarship at USC to turn pro.

Five years later, with an improved forehand, Fritz said, “I expect a lot more of myself.

“I think just my level as a player has gone up. I feel I have gone up several levels, so yeah, I expect a lot more of myself. Six months ago, I think I was ranked almost 40, and now I’m between 15 and 20.”

No one wants him to play a marathon match like Isner — just do something Isner hasn’t, win a Grand Slam.

At Indian Wells, Fritz can’t make anything of his chances

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — He had chances. Taylor Fritz made that concession. The trouble was he couldn’t make anything of those chances.

A guy named Nikoloz Basilashvili was responsible for that.

Tennis can be a tough game, whether you’re playing or promoting. The sport hits the headlines when people such as Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic or Rafa Nadal are hitting forehands in your tournament.

The rest of the guys on the ATP are tremendous. What they don’t have is the so-called Q-factor, recognition beyond their homeland, which for Basilashvili is Georgia — not the state with the No. 1 football team, the country in the Caucasus where the Warriors’ Zaza Pachulia also grew up.

Basilashvili pounds the ball. Then again, so does Fritz. What also took a pounding Saturday in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden was the hope an American might reach the Sunday final and help fill the 16,100-seat main stadium.

Instead, Basilashvili defeated the local hope, Fritz, 7-6 (5), 6-3. And in the other semi, Cameron Norrie of England (and everywhere else) defeated the quite recognizable (and not because he once dated Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams) Grigor Dimitrov, 5-3, 6-4.

That everyone in the stands (and the tournament offices) wanted Fritz, a native of southern California, to win was nothing against Basilashvili.

It’s just that in a sport of individuals, with no home teams, the ones from next door — whether door is a figurative label — invariably are of more interest to those in attendance or watching on TV.

But the kid from next door, Fritz, 23, wasn’t able to make the breakthrough American fans have wanted. Although ranked roughly the same as Basilashvili (29th to 31st) and playing the same type of sledgehammer tennis, Fritz couldn’t score.

“It was really tough,” said Fritz, “because I wanted to come out and play aggressively and attack, but I just couldn’t get many chances. I had a lot of chances to break. But other than that, it was tough for me to get an opportunity.

“He definitely has a backhand harder than anybody on Tour. The way it comes at you, so hard and flat and deep, there’s nothing you can do.”

Since Basilashvili is 29 and hasn’t won a Slam, his other opponents must have done something. 

Fritz has spoken about silencing his inner self — meaning just hit the ball and don’t overthink. “I think I did a good job,” he said. “When I would get a little nervous or worried, I kept telling myself I would win the match.”

Except Basilashvili won it.

“I was relaxed in the big moments,” said Basilashvili. “Taylor made me play a lot of balls. I was more focused. Which is why I was able to save break points.”

The question on a day when the temperature in the desert nudged 90 degrees was whether he or the other men still left can save a BNP Paribas event in which No. 2 ranked Daniil Medvedev and most other top seeds were eliminated early.

Norrie, another virtual unknown, was born in South Africa, went to New Zealand, and now lives in England. He is also a Horned Frog, having played at Texas Christian.

He’s had as many tournament wins this year as Djokovic, if in lesser tournaments, and almost silently has moved to the No. 1 position among British players.

He’ll face Basilashvili in the final.

“I was just going out there and playing my game,” he said of the tidy win over Dimitrov. “Making all the rallies long.

“I’ve faced some pretty decent players in the third round this year — Rafa in Australia, Rafa in the French, then Roger at Wimbledon. Those experiences have been great for me.”

A final at Indian Wells isn’t going to be a bad experience either.

Palm Springs Life: Fritz Fizzles at BNP Paribas Open

By Art Spander
Palm Springs Life

Taylor Fritz didn’t have his serve Thursday — hey, sometimes Andy Roddick and Pete Sampras struggled — but he did have his sense of perspective. After Fritz was whipped by the other young American hotshot, Francis Tiafoe, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, in their first-round match of the BNP Paribas Open, he was asked how long it would take him to get over a loss.

Until that moment, most of Fritz’s comments in the media room were the sort expected from a disappointed 18-year-old: that he made too many mistakes; that he usually handles pressure very well. But the recovery time after a defeat?

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2016 Desert Publications. All rights reserved.