As great as Alexander Zverev has been over the past several years, he just couldn’t find a way to defeat Taylor Fritz. The American is good, of course, but nowhere near as accomplished as the German. Yet, every match since Wimbledon 2024, a stretch of seven, had gone toward Fritz.
Zverev is playing with renewed confidence, though. He finally won his first Grand Slam event at the French Open this year, so he is no longer the best player ever to have never won a major. That can be freeing.
Before Wimbledon 2026, Zverev’s best run at the grass-court major was reaching the fourth round. He had exceeded that by the time he played Fritz this year, as the two met in the quarterfinals. The German immediately let the American know that this match would go differently from their previous matches over the last two years.
Fritz had his chances in the first round. He had four break point opportunities, two in game two and two near the end of the set. He couldn’t come through, partly because Zverev was able to reset games with his first serve.
He landed 82 percent of those chances and won 71 percent of the points. After getting a relatively easy break of Fritz in the third game to take a 2-1 lead, Zverev was able to hold with ease except for one game. He took set one 6-4 and was playing exceedingly efficient tennis with 12 winners and seven unforced errors.
Between sets, Fritz, who has been bothered by a knee issue for many months, needed to take a medical timeout for the problem. He appeared to be moving well, and he certainly wasn’t trying to use the injury as a crutch, but his knee might have been taking a toll on his mental approach. Either way, Zverev was playing at a higher level.
After a trade of holds in the second set through eight games, Fritz’s serve seemed to diminish, and Zverev came through with the break. As well as he was serving, the set seemed done (it was; the German would hold for a 6-4 set victory), and a two-set-to-love lead appeared likely to be too much for Fritz to overcome. By the third set, Taylor Fritz seemed done. He was broken and wilted against Zverev. The German led 5-2 and was on serve to easily finish the set 6-2 and the match, too. He is playing his best tennis at Wimbledon at the perfect time. He will next play, astonishingly, Arthur Fery, in the semifinals of Wimbledon 2026. Alexander Zverev will be the heavy favorite, but at this point, no one can count Fery out.