Taylor Fritz remains cautious about buying into narratives surrounding him as “America’s next great tennis hope”.
But the fact is the 23-year-old is progressing on a path to becoming the best-performing US men’s tennis player in two decades.
X-factor
The last American male player to win a Slam and reach world No.1 was Andy Roddick, who won the 2003 US Open title. Fellow American Pete Sampras won the same title a year earlier.
Fritz possesses the same huge serve and forehand that were cornerstones of Roddick and Sampras’ attack, yet also a powerful, well-timed backhand to bolster his baseline game.
Born, raised and residing in California – where Sampras developed his game – and introduced to tennis by parents who played professionally, Fritz now works with Sampras’ former coach Paul Annacone, who also guided Roger Federer.
The hype began in 2015 when Fritz became junior No.1 and won the US Open boys’ singles title and has rarely abated, with the youngster signing deals with Nike and Rolex.
And he heads a pack of promising young countrymen – including Reilly Opelka, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe and Sebastian Korda – who many Americans hope can return the nation back to its days of having multiple players challenging for major titles on the men's side as well as the women's.
On court
An “American tennis saviour” label invariably creates pressure. Yet so far, 29th-ranked Fritz – the American No.2 behind John Isner – appears relatively immune to it.
He found immediate success on the ATP Tour in 2016, advancing to the Memphis final at age 18 and rising to world No.53 by August.
Although there was an injury-related backslide in 2017 that saw him fall outside the top 100, Fritz rebounded to crack the top 50 in October 2018 and broke through for his first ATP title in Eastbourne in June 2019, a few months later reaching the top 25.
Fritz, who appeared in his biggest career ATP final in Acapulco in early 2020 and who owns five career wins over top-10 opponents, also showed progress at the Slams last year, reaching the third round at all three and coming close to the US Open fourth round before Denis Shapovlov stormed back to win in five.
Notable stat
At 21 years of age, Fritz became the youngest American to rank inside the top 25 since Andy Roddick 15 years earlier.
Off court
While dedicated and driven in pursuit of his tennis goals, Fritz is impressively well-rounded.
He is a father to four-year-old son Jordan, and appreciated 2020’s pro tennis suspension to spend more time with him at home.
He has also invested in eSports business ReKTGlobal, an extension of his love for gaming; Fritz travels to tournaments with a light-weight screen and PlayStation console in his luggage.
He even turned his gaming into a charitable pursuit during the pandemic, winning a Nintendo Mario Tennis event and donating $1 million to efforts to end child hunger in the United States.
Around that he has dabbled in some modelling through magazine photo shoots.
Experts are saying …
“Taylor is one of the most strong-willed people I’ve ever met. It’s good (when facing) adversity … He is one of the best unconditional competitors out there. I’ve seen him win matches when he is sick, when he is hurt, when he is not playing well and those are the ingredients that he is going to (need to) reach his potential.”
- Paul Annacone
He said …
Fritz on preparing for the 2020 season: “I think my mindset every morning is to just train as hard as I possibly can, and so when I get done that day, I can believe that I out-worked everyone else.”
“I just feel like I’m nowhere near where I want to be or where I should be, so I want to keep wanting to get better, wanting to beat more people, wanting to be higher ranked.”