It took Monfils a little over three hours to defeat Fritz and move into the fourth round at the Australian Open.

This is a disappointing loss for Fritz, who entered the tournament in good form after helping the United States win the United Cup.

What did John McEnroe see Taylor Fitz do during his Australian Open loss to Gael Monfils?

Taylor Fritz seemed to be in control when he took the first against Gael Monfils in their Australian Open match.

But the Frenchman, who won his last seven matches heading into the contest, came battling back with some aggressive tennis backed up by excellent serving.

Monfils levelled the match by taking set two and dominated the third set tiebreak, conceding just one point and after earning a break of serve at 4-4 in set three, Monfils successfully served out a truly magnificent win.

Fritz seemed out of sorts and struggled to nullify Monfils’ strengths, and John McEnroe commented on how the pressure was getting to the fourth seed during the contest.

“I think he was feeling the pressure, he was the fourth seed, coming in and expectations are a lot higher. He’s been in the finals of the US Open, and he’s going to be really disappointed with that.

“I could hear him screaming on a number of occasions during the match saying ‘I can’t hurt him! I can’t get the ball by him!’. And Monfils’ court coverage was like he was 25. It was amazing.”

Fritz entered his first Grand Slam seeded as a top four player as perhaps the expectation on his shoulders weighed heavy.

After making his first Grand Slam final back at the 2024 US Open, Fritz was aiming to go one better at Melbourne Park.

But Monfils delivered one of his finest performances to defeat him, and Fritz thinks he can have a strong in the first Grand Slam of the season.

“Yeah I mean, if he’s playing like that,” he said. “Obviously he’s come straight from winning a title, playing a whole tournament. He had a five-setter in the first round. Today’s match was physical. It was hot.

“If he can continue to play like how he played today for five sets, I think he’s going to be tough for anybody to beat.

“Like I said, he’s returning all my serves, even when I’m hitting really good serves. The way he’s serving on top of that, plus how big he’s serving his second serve, it’s just really tough to play.”

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