Player of the Day: Taylor Fritz

WATCH: Stefanos Tsitsipas defeats Benoit Paire in the 2022 Australian Open third round.

Fritz's Vitals

• Age: 24
• Birthplace: Rancho Santa Fe, CA, USA
• Turned Pro: 2015
• Highest Ranking: 22 (1/10/22)
• Racquet: Head Radical MP 2021 (Click to purchase on TennisPoint)

If you try once and fail, you might as well try again. But what happens when you try 21 times and fail 21 times? If you’re anything like Taylor Fritz, you won’t give up until you’ve achieved your long-awaited goal on the 22nd try.

Resilience has always been a part of the characteristics that define the 24-year-old American. Just last year, Fritz had to be taken off a court at Roland Garros in a wheelchair after a severe knee injury on match point—a few weeks later, he was wreaking havoc on the draw at Wimbledon in a seemingly miraculous recovery.

But no matter how hard he tried, a fourth-round berth was always just out of reach. Fritz had reached the third round seven times across 21 Grand Slam events, but he had come up just short each time.

Except this time.

Fritz ooked sharp across two straight-set wins to reach the third round, again, where No. 15 seed Roberto Bautista Agut was waiting. The American weathered the ups and downs of a rollercoaster five-set match as the Spanish veteran took a 2-1 lead. He broke serve 10 times to claim the victory 6-0, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 and move on in Melbourne.

"It's huge. After the match I was close to tearing up a bit," Fritz said. "It seems stupid because so many people have made the second week of Slams, but it has eluded me for so long. I've had a lot of tough draws and I've never had a great look at it."

Next up, No. 20 seed Fritz will be looking for his first win over No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round.