By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Friday, May 3, 2024
Taylor Fritz slipped out of the Madrid semifinals.
After bowing to Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-3 in at this time’s Mutua Madrid Open semifinals, Fritz cited two obstacles that ended his Madrid run.
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First, Rublev’s rocket serve displaced Fritz and arrange the Russian’s fierce first-strike forehand.
Secondly, Fritz could not all the time maintain his ft defending out of the corners.
Afterward, Fritz instructed the media in Madrid the Manolo Santana Stadium court docket may use extra clay.
In truth, he mentioned typically he may hear the squeal of his sneaker on the laborious floor beneath the purple mud when sliding.
“I mean, I know for a fact that there is not as much clay on center than all the other courts,” Fritz instructed the media in Madrid. “I can literally, when I’m taking little steps, I can hear my feet squeaking because it’s hitting the hard surface underneath the clay.
“I felt each time I used to be type of attempting to take an explosive step, which was loads as a result of he was pulling me to this point off the court docket together with his serve, I wished to take some fairly aggressive steps to get again into the court docket, I used to be simply slipping loads.”
Last week, Olympic gold-medal champion and Tennis Channel analyst Monica Puig described her days of playing in Madrid as if feeling she was “enjoying on a tough court docket with clay on high.”
Fritz said Manolo Santana Stadium Court is “undoubtedly slower and fairly slippery” compared to Arantxa Sanchez Stadium.
“I imply, it is usually fairly awkward when I’m shifting, however I felt much more awkward,” Fritz said. “I felt additional awkward shifting at this time. I felt like I used to be attending to plenty of balls just a bit late or off stability, and it simply wasn’t flowing for me.
“But like I said, he served very well and I didn’t serve so well. So it’s, you know, it’s something I can control.”
Photo credit score: Matthew Calvis
Source: www.tennisnow.com
