Fritz was crowned men's singles champion
In the early morning of March 21, Beijing time, the MEN's singles final of the ATP Indian Wells Masters ended, and Rolex spokesperson Fritz won the 21st Grand Slam champion Nadal 6-3/ 7-6 (5) to win the first Masters of his career, while ending Nadal's 20-game winning streak at the beginning of the season. Fritz thus became the first homegrown player to win a trophy at the Indian Wells Masters since Agassi in 2001.
In fact, Fritz's ability to play in this final was also a question mark, he unfortunately sprained his ankle in the semi-final against Rublev, and the injury worsened in the warm-up before the final. Although Fritz's team members unanimously advised him to retire, Fritz insisted on playing the first Masters final of his career.
Fritz quickly took a 4-0 lead at the start, and although Nadal recovered at the end of the first set, he was still powerless to return to the sky in the face of such a huge score gap, and Fritz won the first set 6-3. Nadal applied for a medical suspension during breaks and was also not in the best physical condition. Nadal tried to drag Fritz down in the second set to lengthen the scoreline, but the Americans were particularly good at key points, Fritz held a match point at one point when leading 5-4, Nadal stubbornly held the serve, and then dragged the game into the seventh, Fritz did not waste a second match point, and finally locked in the victory with a small score of 7-5.
In his speech at the awards ceremony, Fritz had tears in his eyes: "It was already unbelievable that I was able to go on the field and play this game, I experienced physical pain before the game, which was the most painful time in my life. We did a lot of homework in the pre-race preparations, and I experienced all kinds of mixed emotions myself. I didn't think it was possible to play, and then we did a lot of treatment for the ankle ... When I stepped onto the field, there was no problem with my ankles at all. ”
The Indian Wells Masters, one of Fritz's many family members who often came to see the event as a child, was undoubtedly a dream come true for Fritz: "Winning the Indian Wells Tournament has always been one of my childhood dreams, and I thought it would be impossible to achieve this dream. ”
With this championship, Fritz's world ranking will rise to a career-high 13th place, regaining the position of america's first brother.
(Text, Editor/Faye Wong, Photo/Visual China)