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Andy Roddick reveals the shocking reason Taylor Fritz crashed out of the French Open
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- Andy Roddick reveals the shocking reason Taylor Fritz crashed out of the French Open
Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images
Nishesh Basavareddy provided the first major surprise in the men's draw at Roland Garros on Sunday.
Ranked outside the top 100, Basavareddy took down Taylor Fritz in four sets on Court Suzanne Lenglen, finishing 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-1.
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Fritz had missed two months of action earlier this season due to a knee injury and was playing just his third tournament since returning to competition.
The American was seeded seventh this year, but former US Open champion Andy Roddick wasn't shocked by the result.
Photo by Miikka Skaffari/Getty Images for Laver Cup
Andy Roddick responds to Taylor Fritz's early exit at Roland Garros
Speaking on an episode of Served, Roddick said: "Upset of the day, highest seed that goes down. Taylor Fritz to Basavareddy. Listen, this is a huge upset on paper, and not that surprising.
"It's tough, because, you know, Fritz, one, it's not his favourite service, and you're not making an excuse for anyone. Two, the guy loves playing tournaments and is kind of always match tough… has played one match the last two months.
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"Finally tried to fix the knee tendonitis, dropped about 12 pounds to try to take some of the weight off of that. Basavareddy has been the opposite and has been playing a lot and been playing pretty well. A lot had to go right tactically for Basavareddy.
"But Basavareddy did a great job. Like, Taylor was never set. He used that drop shot, you know, forehand, backhand."
"This was definitely a 2026 matchup with just dropping droppers nonstop, left, right. It was a great tactic because Basavareddy doesn't have the ball speed. I think he was down almost 20 MPHs, forehand to forehand.
"So it had to do something. You can't just go toe-to-toe with Taylor, the way that he strikes the ball. Was just constantly not letting Taylor kind of get set and strike the ball like he likes to.
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"And when you are rusty and you haven't played, the last thing you want to do is not get any rhythm, right? And not be able to play the points the way that you want to play them."
Carlos Alcaraz got off to an underwhelming start after dropping three games in a row before turning things around against American J.J. Wolf in straight sets.
Roland Garros continues on Monday with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal both in action as they look to join Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in round two.
Taylor Fritz racks up more winners than Basavareddy despite the loss
Even with the defeat, Fritz finished with 72 winners to Basavareddy's 51.
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"Taylor's a more aggressive player and creates more speed from the baseline," explained Roddick, reacting to the statistic. "His error count, I'm guessing, was way higher.
"I'm guessing he did a worse job of defending his second serve. And then that drop shot was just like the ultimate, you know, kind of mix up, right?
"When they went toe to toe, what it tells me is Basavareddy was not getting the upper hand in those rallies, and then he had to throw something in, the serve and volley, the mix up, he was going backhand line early, which opened up the other court.
"So tactically, I think it was a borderline perfect match for Basavareddy. And it had to be."
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