By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday November 18, 2024
Taylor Fritz will finish the season at a career-high No.4, but he's not satisfied yet.
Photo Source: USTA
Taylor Fritz. You have to give it up to the man.
Not only did the Southern California native become the first American to play a Grand Slam final in 15 years at the US Open in September, he backed up that performance with a run to the title match at the ATP Finals over the weekend. As a reward for becoming the first American to play in the final at the ATP's prestigious season-ending championships, Fritz rises to a career-high ranking of No.4 in the world, and becomes the first American man to rank inside the Top 4 since Andy Roddick in August of 2007.
But Taylor doesn't feel that his time has come, not yet anyway. Fritz has his mind on making improvements, rather than basking in the glory of his newfound succes.
Here is what Fritz has to say about that on Sunday after falling to Jannik Sinner in Turin.
"Going into my off-season, starting next year, I feel like I have a good idea of what things I need to improve on, but I also feel like I'm playing very good tennis,” he said. “I feel like I've gone up a level and I'm much more confident in my game.”
At 6’5”, Fritz has never been known for flashy footwork, but in 2024 it was clear that he has learned to defend his side of the court better than ever.
He hopes to continue to improve in that area in 2025.
“I definitely need to get more just explosive, quicker first step,” he said. “If I can just get a little quicker off the split step, it will help my return of serve a lot. If I can just put myself in slightly better chances to break serve, I think that's going to be a huge improvement. That's something I've done already, but I think there's still a lot of room for improvement there.”
Always an analytical thinker, Fritz is quick to break down what goes right and wrong in his matches. He says he also discovered that he needs to hit his backhand a little heavier at times.
“Something that got exposed today is when the balls got pretty worn out, I was struggling to generate any power with my backhand,” he said. “It allowed him to take control of a lot of points. When the balls were newer, that wasn't really an issue. I was able to stay in the points.
“Once they get big, it started getting a bit slower, I wasn't generating enough power on my backhand to keep points neutral. I would lose control of the points. I think that's something definitely I can work on.”
Relentlessly focused on maximizing his game, Fritz has never shied away from turning the spotlight on himself. Unlike other players, who are happy just to have a sniff at the Top 10 or the Top 5, or to play in a Grand Slam final, Fritz is dead-set on taking the next steps in his game.
Even in a season that saw him lead the way for the American men, and achieve results that previously might have been beyond his wildest dreams, he still wants more.
Fritz, For Real?
These days, thanks to the confidence he has gained from having big success on the biggest stages, Fritz believes that anything is possible.
That wasn’t always the case. He said that the first time he hit the Top 5, he didn’t really believe he had a game that merited that ranking.
“When I hit 5 in the world for, like, a week (in February of 2023), I was kind of like, That's crazy, I'm 5 in the world, look at all these guys ranked behind me that are probably better than me,” he said.
Back then I was No. 5, but I didn't feel like I was 5. Now I'm ranked where I'm at, and I feel like I belong. It's a different feeling. It's been a great year. That gives me a lot of confidence to have that belief. That's a huge part of having the big results.”