Taylor Fritz reveals what he was yelling at his coach during his Japan Open win over Nuno Borges

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Taylor Fritz has carried his Laver Cup form forward to the Japan Open, securing a big win in his second-round match.

After Fritz beat Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev at the Laver Cup, he travelled to Tokyo for the Japan Open ATP 500 event.

Beating Gabriel Diallo, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 in round one, Fritz advanced to the second round, where he took on Portugal’s Nuno Borges.

Despite being broken early in both sets, the American recovered to secure the win in straights, 7-5, 7-6.

He had to work hard for his place in the Japan Open quarterfinals, as Fritz now reveals what he was yelling at his coach throughout the match.

Taylor Fritz was yelling at his coach about how well Nuno Borges played when they were on serve

During his post-match interview, Fritz reflected on his hard-fought win over the world number 51.

“It was a really tough match, but I think I at times made it pretty hard for myself, came out first game, broken,” he said.

“I did a really good job of breaking back; it’s not too often that I win sets when I get broken early, then I go down a break two different times in the second set, so I fought really hard and did a great job of getting myself back in the sets, but I really could have avoided the breaks.

“The whole time I was yelling at my coach, saying every game when I’m playing rallies on his serve and he’s up a break, I’m winning all the rallies, he’s making mistakes, he’s not playing that great.

“Then every time we’re on serve and I’m serving, if my serve came back, I lost every point, I just felt like he was playing so well when I was serving and not so good when he was serving.”

Fritz then shared how the difference in conditions between the practice courts and Centre Court affected him during the early stages of his match with Borges.

“To be honest, the court I warmed up on is so fast compared to Centre Court, so I felt like I didn’t make first serves that first game, then caught every ball super early,” he said.

“The ones he hit hard, I kept expecting them to come at me, and I just caught them out in front, missed them long.”

Not letting the conditions overwhelm him, Fritz recovered to qualify for his tenth ATP quarterfinal of the season and extended his record of winning more matches than anyone else since the grass season began.

A humble Fritz downplayed the achievement, but admitted he has been pleased with his level over recent months.

“I mean, I’m also low-key playing the most tournaments, so I maybe should have the most wins,” he said.

“But honestly, from the start of grass-court season, I’ve been playing great. Maybe there have been some off weeks here and there, but even the weeks that I haven’t maybe played my best, I still feel like I’ve competed really well and had good results.

“I’m really happy with the second half of the year, and I needed it after injuries and a slow start.”

Having performed as well as he has recently, one former British tennis star thinks Fritz could take another step forward before the end of the year.

Barry Cowan thinks Taylor Fritz has his ‘eye on’ the world number three ranking

Speaking on commentary for Sky Sports, Barry Cowan shared his thoughts on Fritz’s latest win and suggested what the American will be looking to achieve over the coming months.

“Certainly not one of his tennis days, but even when he is below his best, he fights, he battles. An important win for Fritz to continue,” he said.

“He still has so much to play for from now until the end of the year.

“I think he will have eyes on trying to end the year as world number three, Taylor Fritz.

“Given how well he plays this part of the season, given the conditions here in Asia, but also indoors, he will have a good feeling that that is a real possibility.”

Fritz’s career-high ranking is four, but he currently sits fifth in the ATP rankings behind Novak Djokovic, Zverev, Jannik Sinner, and Alcaraz.

ATP top five

• 1. Carlos Alcaraz – 11,540 points
• 2. Jannik Sinner – 10,780 points
• 3. Alexander Zverev – 5,930 points
• 4. Novak Djokovic – 4,830 points
• 5. Taylor Fritz – 4,675 points

The 27-year-old will need to close down a 1,000+ point gap if he wants to become world number three for the first time in his career.

He may struggle to do so, considering he has more points to defend than Zverev and Djokovic over the next few months, but if he can continue on his impressive run of form, you wouldn’t want to bet against him.

A title in Tokyo would certainly help his cause, and Fritz will try to keep things rolling when he takes on Sebastian Korda in the quarterfinals on Sunday, September 28.