By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Friday, May 3, 2024

Taylor Fritz slipped out of the Madrid semifinals.

After bowing to Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-3 in at the moment's Mutua Madrid Open semifinals, Fritz cited two hindrances that ended his Madrid run.

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First, Rublev's rocket serve displaced Fritz and arrange the Russian's fierce first-strike forehand.

Secondly, Fritz could not all the time preserve his ft defending out of the corners.

Afterward, Fritz advised the media in Madrid the Manolo Santana Stadium courtroom might use extra clay.

In reality, he stated generally he might hear the squeal of his sneaker on the onerous floor beneath the pink mud when sliding. 

"I mean, I know for a fact that there is not as much clay on center than all the other courts," Fritz advised the media in Madrid. "I can literally, when I'm taking little steps, I can hear my feet squeaking because it's hitting the hard surface underneath the clay.

"I felt each time I used to be form of making an attempt to take an explosive step, which was rather a lot as a result of he was pulling me to date off the courtroom along with his serve, I needed to take some fairly aggressive steps to get again into the courtroom, I used to be simply slipping rather a lot."

Last week, Olympic gold-medal champion and Tennis Channel analyst Monica Puig described her days of playing in Madrid as if feeling she was "taking part in on a tough courtroom with clay on high."

Fritz said Manolo Santana Stadium Court is "positively slower and fairly slippery" compared to Arantxa Sanchez Stadium.

"I imply, it is usually fairly awkward when I'm shifting, however I felt much more awkward," Fritz said. "I felt additional awkward shifting at the moment. I felt like I used to be attending to plenty of balls just a bit late or off stability, and it simply wasn't flowing for me.

"But like I said, he served very well and I didn't serve so well. So it's, you know, it's something I can control."

Photo credit score: Matthew Calvis

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