"It's a childhood dream" - Fritz on winning Indian Wells

Taylor Fritz claimed his first ATP Masters 1000 title by handing Rafael Nadal his first loss of the 2022 season in the BNP Paribas Open final.

In the biggest match of his blossoming career, the American powered to a 6-3, 7-6(5) victory to win his second ATP Tour trophy. The 24-year-old launched an all-out attack on the Spaniard to deny him a record-tying 37th ATP Masters 1000 title and end his personal-best 20-match win streak on the season. But Fritz almost never took the court for this career-defining victory.

On the injured ankle he said:

"I can't even begin to describe how ridiculous it is that I was able to play how I could play today. I've never experienced worse pain in my life before a match. We did a lot of work leading up to the match and I went through a roller coaster of emotions before the match, from thinking there was no way I could possibly play to then doing all this work on the ankle, doing so much stuff to it... I came out here and it didn't really affect me at all."

He further said:

"I'm going to have to hold back tears for every single interview I do, every single on-court speech. This is going to be tough because I'm such a happy crier. Winning this tournament especially, Indian Wells, this is one of those childhood dreams that you just never think can come true. I just keep saying, 'No, no. Just no way it's real.'"