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Taylor Fritz’s epic run at the 2022 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells launched his amazing season.
Twenty years. That’s how long it’s been since an American tennis player last won a Grand Slam tournament – Andy Roddick at the 2003 U.S. Open. Long gone are the days when two guys from the same neighborhood (Queens in New York) – Connors and McEnroe – reigned supreme atop the men’s ATP rankings and would battle it out in the finals of the biggest tennis events in the world. But, if Taylor Fritz has his way, those days are about to come back.
At this time last year, he shocked the tennis world by defeating Rafael Nadal at the BNP Paribas in Indian Wells, 6-3, 7-6 to win the tournament. Last year, he also reached the semifinals at Wimbledon. And, for the first time, the San Diego native finished the year in the Top 10 and is very ambitious for the next few months. “That was a big goal of mine, so I’m really happy,” he says of the ranking achievement.
As for the 20-year American drought, he has an explanation. “It’s been 20 years of just two or three people dominating the sport,” he reflects. “Federer started it back then, then Federer and Rafa started trading it, and then Djokovic and Murray. Those guys have been so much better than everyone else. There’s never been an era like this before, with the three best players of all time all playing at the same time. It’s been very tough for anybody else to get in there. But, I think we’re finally getting to the point where other people can win.”
Fritz was born into a tennis family. His mother, Kathy May, is a former Top-10 player who reached the quarterfinals at several Grand Slam events in the ’70s. One could wonder how much of an advantage it is to have a tennis expert living with you 24/7 when you’re growing up. Fritz admits it helped a lot. “I definitely had someone that could lead me in the right direction, through experience,” he says. “My dad was also a coach. I had a lot of help and knowledge. Tennis was always around me. I wouldn’t have gotten in the sport if it wasn’t around me all the time.” Being the son of a tennis pro also came in handy when it came time to make the most difficult decision a young tennis champion must make: attending college or not. “When it came time to decide to turn pro, my dad was leaning on the side of going to college for a semester, train, and get stronger,” remembers Fritz. “My mom said, ‘If that’s what you want to [do], turn pro, go for it!’ I needed that little extra bit of reassurance. She’d done it before, and felt that if I felt I was ready, I should do it, as well.”
Although Los Angeles proper doesn’t have a pro tennis tournament anymore (the LA Open held its last tournament in 2012), southern California is still a good place to play tennis, with lots of tennis courts and junior events. “Growing up, southern California was definitely one of the strongest regions for junior tennis,” remembers Fritz. “I played local tournaments in San Diego and Los Angeles until I was 15 or 16 years old; I didn’t travel too much. It’s a great tennis area.”
Even though his 6’ 4” height might be seen as a great advantage at the net, Fritz is a baseline player at heart, mirroring the evolution of the game. “They’ve slowed down the courts so much that no one plays like this anymore,” he explains, reflecting on the decline of serve-and-volley strategies once favored by players like John McEnroe and Pete Sampras. “It doesn’t work. If you’re a baseliner, you’re going to have way more success.“
Beyond technique, tennis is also very much a mental game. Mental health issues have been front and center since former number-one player Naomi Osaka went public with her struggles. It’s now clear to everyone who follows tennis that mental strength is key to success. Fritz has a specific routine to maintain his mental focus. “For me, it’s just having time to decompress,” he says. “I need to have a set amount of time where I can play video games or lay in bed and watch a show. I need free time where I can do nothing. That’s all I really need to feel good about work and train the next day. I can’t be too busy and do too much; that’s what runs me down.”
Coach Paul Annacone, a former American top-20 player himself and former coach of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, had a big influence on Fritz’s game since he started working with him in 2018. “He’s helped me a lot with how to process things, not wanting things to happen so soon, working to get better,” says Fritz. “Not expecting so much from myself all the time. On the court, we’ve worked so much over the past couple of years on trying to transition to the net when playing someone with groundstrokes, to clean up points. Not to serve and volley or anything like that, just to finish points when I’m hurting someone on court. We’ve worked on a lot of different things, and the results speak for themselves. Since we started working together, I’ve been improving every year.”
So why isn’t Fritz’s name as well-known as that of American champions of the past? Besides the absence of a Grand Slam title, there is also a lack of rivalries among the “Next Gen” players. A confrontation of the scope of a McEnroe/Connors, McEnroe/Borg or even Federer/Nadal match-up has yet to emerge. Does the tennis world need a flamboyant villain to grab the headlines again? “I think the personalities are still the same,” counters Fritz. “But, it got more attention back then because tennis was a more popular sport at the time. My rivalries are with people I’m friends with. I do agree that drama brings excitement, though. But, I happen to get along with almost everyone … all the players get along on the men’s side. I think anytime there is an extra layer of excitement, it makes people want to come watch, but it’s the kind of thing that has to happen authentically; you can’t fake that.”
Fritz’s epic run at the 2022 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells launched his amazing season when he became the first American to win here since Andre Agassi’s 2001 victory. It was also the first time he won a Master 1000 tournament. “I’ve been to Indian Wells a lot as a kid,” he recalls. “I remember playing the pre-qualifying event when I was 15 years old. I think I lost in the quarters or the semifinals. I ended up getting a wild card to the qualifying tournament when I was 16 years old. It was my first-ever win at any ATP event at any level. It was a really big deal for me at the time. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. It’s pretty amazing to reflect on that, eight years later. Winning the tournament last year was like a childhood dream – one of those crazy ones you never think is going to happen. I can’t even describe it.”
Fritz’s relationship with the tournament was beautifully captured by the Netflix tennis docuseries “Break Point,” released earlier this year. The series takes an intimate look at several underdog tennis stars and follows them all over the world as they compete in Grand Slams and tournaments in the ATP and WTA tours. It features the ups and downs of many tennis players at different points throughout the 2022 season. Fritz is featured in episode 3 – “California Dreaming.” He is very excited about the series. “I think the show is amazing,” he says. “There’s no way for me to know what’s going to happen next, how people are going to react, but I do think it’s going to bring a lot of eyes to tennis and hopefully popularize tennis even more. I’m super excited for everyone to see my episode focused around Indian Wells.”
Is Taylor Fritz the one that America has been waiting for? Will he break the 20-year losing streak and beat the matrix? He has ambitious goals for 2023. “My goal this year, ranking-wise, is to be in the top five,” he says. “Results-wise, I want to perform well at the Slams; I definitely want to at least make it to the final of a Grand Slam and have the opportunity to play for a Grand Slam title.”
