Taylor Fritz has many strengths, but Jack Sock's killer forehand was just too much

NEW YORK—Jack Sock and Taylor Fritz are both from the U.S., they’re separated in age by just five years and they play the same sport for a living. Other than that, though, their on-court personalities couldn’t be more different.

The long and lanky Fritz has a classic tennis-player’s build, and a classic tennis-player’s demeanor; soft-spoken and outwardly calm, he can go five sets and hardly make a sound—his signature expression of anger is to pull up his shorts. Fritz has a strong serve and forehand, but his most notable shot is his long, flat, two-handed backhand. His weakness so far is his speed, or relative lack thereof.

Sock is an inch shorter and significantly stockier than Fritz. He has a modern tennis-player’s build, one made for today’s baseline push and pull. He’s as talkative on court as Fritz is taciturn; Sock chatters to his player box, punctuates winning points by barking “Yeah!” and enjoys a good jaw session with a chair umpire. He has a strong serve (in the 140-m.p.h range at times), but his signature attributes are his forehand and his feet. Sock, who hits as viciously and moves as quickly as anyone on tour, is an explosive athlete.

Being opposites, Sock and Fritz serve as a useful test case: If you want to find out what the most useful attributes in tennis are today, watch them face off. At the Australian Open earlier this year, they seesawed their way through five sets before Sock eventually won 6-4 in the decider. On Monday night at Flushing Meadows, they did it all over again, and Sock won all over again, 6-4 in the fifth. Though this time “seesaw” doesn’t quite do justice the violent mood swings that characterized the 7-6 (3), 7-5, 3-6, 1-6, 6-4 score.

In the first set, Sock went up an early break and gave it back, but pulled it out in the end. That set the pattern for the match. Sock did the same thing in the second set before winning it. Then, up two sets to love, he gave back that lead. Finally, in the fifth, he nearly gave back a 5-2 lead before breaking Fritz in the last game. While Sock is physically stronger, Fritz was the mentally steadier player on Monday.

We usually say that it’s all about the mind in tennis, but it was the physical that mattered more in this one. Fritz hit 17 aces and 41 winners, and did his best to take command of the rallies when he could. But the match was on Sock’s racquet the whole way; as his mood went, so went the match, and he outdid Fritz in aces and winners, with 19 and 58, respectively. Perhaps it was fitting that Fritz—like his friend, Frances Tiafoe, against John Isner earlier in the day—won one more point than Sock (164 to 163), but lost one more set. Sock was able to commit 31 more errors than Fritz (73 to 42) but still win the match.

Judging by that evidence, if you’re going to have a weapon as a tennis player today, you should make it your forehand. Serving for the match at 5-3 in the fifth, Sock pulled an easy forehand wide and was broken. But unlike Fritz, he knew that he would be able to create more opportunities to make that shot. In the next and final game, at 5-4, Fritz missed a routine forehand into the net; even had he made it, it wasn’t going to win him the rally. Two points later, Sock did end the rally, and the match, with a forehand winner. Fritz has many things going for him, but Sock has one big thing, his forehand, and so far that has been the—slim—difference between them.