Taylor Fritz lost his Lyon Open title match to Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday, and in another 67 hours he had a scheduled match in a neighbouring country. In less than three days, he had to travel 255 miles, digest a tough loss, recover and be prepared for the next match. 

Life on the ATP Tour looks glamorous from the outside, but the grind between tournaments is a different story. The American gave a rare glimpse of that grind, posting a selfie on his Instagram story on Monday, hooded and looking straight into the camera, with a caption that summed up the fatigue. 

“One day ur in a final, the next ur renting a car in the middle of nowhere to drive 3.5 hours to the next tournament.” He geotagged the post “Idk,” a joke that suggested he was not entirely sure where he was.

The final was a tough one to swallow. Musetti had saved four match points in the semifinals against Flavio Cobolli, and finished a losing streak of seven consecutive tour-level finals after clinching his first title since 2022 in just 80 minutes. 

Fritz, the second seed, was denied what would have been his 12th ATP singles title, and the Italian now leads their head-to-head 5-3. But the sting did not have time to sink in – the next stop awaited. The schedule leaves little room to rest, and the American was reminded of that on a long drive. 

On the map, Lyon and Basel are next to each other, but the road distance is a bit longer than it seems. The travel time is approximately 365-400 km (255 miles) or 4 hours by road depending on road conditions and traffic. Both tournaments fall back-to-back on the calendar, so the player who made it to the Lyon final on a Sunday will have to hustle for the Basel draw, which has already begun Monday – it is not uncommon for the sport to require short-notice travel. 

Fritz was originally drawn to face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Basel opener, but Tsitsipas withdrew with a shoulder injury. Instead, Fritz, the sixth seed, will face Australia’s Rinky Hijikata, who is ranked 85th and entered as a lucky loser. 

The former world No. 4 turns 29 on Wednesday, the day of the match. His Basel record is mixed, with a 5-5 mark at the tournament. His best result is a quarterfinal in 2018, and last year he lost in the round of 16 to wild card Dominic Stricker.

Ben Shelton is the top seed, Novak Djokovic is back in Basel for the first time since 2011, and home hero Stan Wawrinka is playing the final tournament of his career at the event. A deep run would certainly give him a chance to keep his late-season momentum going.

Can Fritz make a three-peat at the ATP Finals?

The race to Turin is what makes the week important. Fritz sits 12th in the ATP Live Race with 2,685 points. He is trailing 474 points behind ninth-place-positioned Rafael Jodar, and Jodar has the last qualifying spot because second-place-positioned Jannik Sinner ended his season early. Jodar is in the Basel draw too, as are Arthur Fils and Novak Djokovic. There are only two weeks of action before the Nitto ATP Finals field is set, so every game is a chase. 

Serbian is positioned at 11th position with 2840 points, just trailing 40 points from 10th-positioned player Alex de Minaur, who is playing at the Vienna Open. 

Fritz has qualified three times for the ATP Finals in his career: 2022, 2024, 2025. In 2024, he reached the championship final, losing to Jannik Sinner, and this time he has the opportunity to make it three in a row, but the goal looks distant. 

The 28-year-old has still had a solid year. He has had 37 wins in the season so far out of the 57 matches he has played, including an ATP 500 title in Washington. Lyon showed that he is playing well late in the season, where he did not drop a set till the final and even defeated compatriot Tommy Paul in the semifinals. A strong run in Basel could put him back in the conversation for Turin.