Lucky Number Eleven?

Safe to say this is not a matchup that Fritz likes, being 0-10 in the H2H against Djokovic...

But hey, trends have to be broken at some point! Felix had horrible H2H records against Zverev and Rublev, and he sent both of them packing rather easily. Bublik had not been broken all tournament, and look what happened against Sinner ;) Fritz had not been the most convincing in his latest matches, but his match against Machac was pretty much perfect. He was untouchable on his first serve and managed to turn the match into a serve-and-return match with a minimal number of rallies, which gave him a huge advantage, as he is a better server and more consistent returner. Machac simply did not get to implement his game at all; his athleticism was not properly utilized, and he was unable to effectively venture forward toward the net. Machac then played a few loose serve games, which Fritz didn't, and that's all she wrote! Djokovic had a masterclass performance of his own, completely taking apart Struff's game in a very easy straight-sets win. Struff had looked great in his other two matches against Tiafoe and Rune, but it just goes to show how much the returning ability matters, since it's Djokovic's strength, while Tiafoe and Rune are both poor returners.

So, yes, this is not a good matchup for Fritz, as you might imagine. Fritz's main strengths are his serve and forehand, the same as Struff's. So, does that mean he is guaranteed to meet the same fate, a quick straight-sets beatdown? Well, not necessarily... Fritz's game, apart from the serve and forehand, is a lot stronger than Struff's. There are specifically two things that Struff doesn't do particularly well that Djokovic could really exploit - backhand and movement. And Fritz does have a solid backhand, and while his movement is not the most natural, it has improved significantly. It's obviously not going to be easy, but at least some things are in his favour: he has become better and more experienced, while Djokovic has turned older; he is playing at home, having made the finals last year. While it's a different matchup, I liked his performance against Alcaraz in Wimbledon. Facing elite players will always be challenging for Fritz due to his relatively one-dimensional power game. I imagine we will see a sharp Djokovic here, looking to finish this match as quickly as possible. Every minute on court matters for him, as he needs to be as fresh as possible for Alcaraz and then Sinner...