Taylor Fritz flies to improbable Indian Wells title, first to beat Rafa Nadal in 2022

By Ricky Dimon

You could not have blamed Taylor Fritz if the occasion was too big for him: the final of his favorite tournament, Rafael Nadal on the other side of the net, and an ankle injury.

But it wasn’t too big.

Instead, Fritz picked up the biggest win of his career thanks to his gutsiest performance. The 24-year-old overcame all of the aforementioned obstacles to defeat Nadal 6-3, 7-6(5) for the BNP Paribas Open title on Sunday afternoon.

It is true that Fritz did get some help from his opponent, because he wasn’t the only one who went into the championship match with physical problems. Nadal had sustained an apparent pectoral injury during his semifinal marathon against Carlos Alcaraz, and it was clear from the start of Sunday’s contest that he was well less than 100 percent.

In fact, Nadal did not even win a game until he was already down 4-0 in the opening set. The 35-year-old has been no stranger to miracle comebacks in 2022 and he mounted another charge in typical fashion, but this time he came up short.

“(I) tried til’ the end,” Nadal said. “That’s it. Even (though) I had my chances in the second set, I didn’t convert too many chances. That’s it, no? I think it’s a difficult match to analyze personally from my side because I was not able to do many things. But, yeah, it’s a great victory for him — first Masters 1000. Big day for him. I just hope he enjoys it.”

Fritz will most definitely enjoy it. This is an event the California native has always dreamt of winning.

“I’m going to have to hold back tears for every single interview I do, every single on-court speech,” the world No. 20 commented during a post-match interview. “This is going to be tough because I’m such a happy crier. Winning this tournament especially, Indian Wells, this is one of those childhood dreams that you just never think can come true. I just keep saying, ‘No, no. Just no way it’s real.”

How’s this for real? Fritz is the first American man to triumph in Indian Wells since Andre Agassi in 2001 and he is the first player to beat Nadal in 2022 (the 21-time Grand Slam champion had been a perfect 20-0). As if that isn’t enough, Fritz will also climb to a career-high ranking of No. 13 in the world on Monday.

Fritz may be crying happy tears for a while, because all of that is most definitely real.

Ricky contributes to10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.

Editors Note • there’s a man in Tennis Heaven tonight that’s had the best day of his imagination. David May  was the father of Champion Kathy May. And he was very proud of her. He had many daughters that played tennis at a world class level and he was proud of all of them. But he never had the boy like Taylor that would have been perfect. Funny he even named his last daughter Tommie because he wanted a boy so badly. David May was a Dear friend of mine. I was blessed to play on his court often. Mostly teaching the littlest ,Tommie. David life’s passion was tennis. The court was world famous. Everyone and  anyone wanted an invite to his court. The Court was only special because it was David’s court. Movie stars. Tennis stars. Really I can’t emphasize enough what Taylor would have meant to him. I’d return from working media at the US open , Wimbledon, Or where ever I traveled it was my responsibility to bring David back an Big Fat envelope. Inside the envelope was GOLD to him. Stat sheets. Interviews. Order of matches.  Everything and anything. So bravo Kathy and all of you Mays be proud. He would have been glued to the tennis channel. He helped support tennis in Southern California. He helped build the tennis center at UCLA. Big congrats Taylor. Mostly he had loved your serve. And your guts and heart of a Champion (LJ)