Taylor Fritz won the 2023 Atlanta Open after beating Australian Aleksandar Vukic 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4 Sunday afternoon at Atlantic Station. It was Fritz’s second title of the season and was definitely proud of his achievement.
“I’ve played this tournament five times before and [made] the semis [in 2021] and final [in 2019]. I feel like I’ve always been close so it’s nice, I don’t think I could’ve handled another loss in the final,” Fritz said. “It feels really good to get the job done.”
Fritz did not seal the deal in the second set after having two championship points denied by Vukic.
“If I lose the match after having opportunities that I had, it’s going to bother me a lot more,” admitted Fritz. “So it’s like what option do I really have but to move on and forget about it. And can’t I can’t let it bother me because in the end it doesn’t matter how you win as long as you win.”
The 27-year-old Vukic, who played collegiately at Illinois, will rise to a career-high No. 62 in the ATP rankings. He would have climbed into the Top 50 with a victory.
“I think the main main thing here is that just kind of competing out there. Kind of takes you a long way,” Vukic said. I’ve been playing the Challenger tour for a while, and to play here and to have the same mindset and still win matches with that kind of gives me confidence going into the next tournaments. If you play with the right mindset, you can win matches. So overall, if someone had told me I would have made the final here I was on 1000 times so it’s always bittersweet losing but you know, you got to take the positives from it, got to learn from it and keep going. Play again in two days. That’s the sport. There you go again.”
In fact, both Fritz and Vukic will travel to Washington, D.C. to play in a tournament which begins Tuesday morning, the Mubadala Citi DC Open. For some quick background, the tournament was co-founded by Arthur Ashe, Donald Dell, and John A. Harris, in 1969 and is the longest-running tournament staged in a a public park.
Fritz is currently 9th in the ATP Tour rankings and is the top-ranked American. Even though Fritz trains in Miami to prepare for the heat and humidity, he loved playing in Atlanta this week. He concentrated on his cardio and externally worked on the core because the weather conditions will test a player’s overall fitness.
“I just felt so at home and welcomed in Atlanta this week,” Fritz said. “I’ve been coming back here for so many years, so I’m happy to finally get the title. All week, the support was amazing. I’m not from Atlanta, but it felt like I was because the support was just crazy all week long and it felt great.”