Oz ’16 pics: Taylor Fritz’s first big moment

On a dark and stormy night in Melbourne just a month ago, Taylor Fritz might have jumped to the next level.

It was cold. It was late.

In his first-ever Australian Open, in the second round of qualifying, Fritz v. Michael Berrer was the sixth and final match on Court 15 – about as far away from Rod Laver Arena as you can get without hitting downtown Melbourne.

It’s the court on which the Genie Army was born two years ago. So sometimes good things happen there.

But on this night, it was miserable. USTA coaches and a few supporters were bundled up. Fellow 18-year-old Alexander Zverev was watching on, supporting Fritz’s opponent, fellow German Michael Berrer.

The winner of the match was likely to play Zverev’s older brother Mischa for a spot in the main draw, so he had extra interest there.

Fritz had a bum leg, even called the trainer after dropping the second set in about 10 minutes (not quite, but it felt like it). He was facing a lefty, a very experienced opponent nearly twice his age. It wasn’t fun.

And yet, Fritz prevailed, rolling over Berrer 6-1 in the third. Then he defeated the elder Zverev, another veteran lefty, 6-4 in the third in another tough one.

And then, he led two sets to one over compatriot Jack Sock, five years older but a lot more experienced, before running out of gas in the fifth set of his first-ever Grand Slam main draw singles match.

It was an effort that lifted Fritz to a career high of No. 143; the week before, he’d won a Challenger in Australia that didn’t necessarily feature top-class opposition the whole way through, but did put him up against veteran Israeli Dudi Sela in the final. And he defeated him in straight sets.

A month later, as a wild card, Fritz is in the final of the Memphis Open, to face Kei Nishikori in the final Sunday afternoon.

Not that Fritz hadn’t already shown a lot of promise, but it’s entirely possible that a turning point was that freezing night in Oz.

Fritz’s Slam experience before that had been a couple of first-round losses as a wild card in qualifying at the US Open. He had been to Australia just once as a junior, last year, when he lost in the quarter-finals. The year before that, he didn’t even play it; he had just been to a tournament outside the U.S. for the first time ever in his life at that point.

That’s a lot of change in circumstance to adjust to in a short period of time. Fritz appears to be rolling with it well, which can only serve him well.

Fritz already will be on the fringe of the top 100 after his Memphis effort. That means that he probably won’t even need to qualify for the next Grand Slams. That’s pretty linear progress; if Fritz can defeat Nishikori – obviously a tall task – he’d end up somewhere near No. 80.