Taylor Fritz is quickly finding out that life as a professional tennis player can be a whirlwind.
He is trying to catch his breath after a rigorous start to February, which has vaulted him up the rankings and to the top of a crop of rising young American men. Fritz, 18, played six matches in two states in a little more than a week, met a high volume of media obligations, then flew halfway across the continent on minimal sleep to prepare for his third tournament in three weeks.
“It’s tough adjusting to the different conditions of each place, and it’s just something that comes with being a pro,” said Fritz, who has climbed more than 1,000 ranking spots since January 2015 to No. 102. “So I’ll have to get used to it.”
Last Sunday at the Memphis Open, Fritz became the youngest American to play an ATP Tour final since 17-year-old Michael Chang in 1989.
He entered that tournament ranked 145th, and after losing to No. 7 Kei Nishikori, 6-4, 6-4, in the final, Fritz moved up 43 spots as a result of his performance. But he did not have much time to celebrate. He hopped on a plane to South Florida that evening to get ready for his first-round match against fellow American Tim Smyczek in the Delray Beach Open.
With all of the attention surrounding his meteoric rise, and the persistent angst about the state of American men’s tennis, Fritz was in high demand. On Monday, he found himself being shuffled around from a news conference to a round of one-on-one interviews with ESPN and other networks. He did not take the court for his practice round until that night, with high winds hampering his ability to work on his groundstrokes.
Less than 24 hours later, an exhausted and admittedly unprepared Fritz bowed out of the tournament, losing to Smyczek, 6-3, 6-3.
“It was really tough going from the slow indoors to the fast outdoors when I really didn’t have any practice at all,” Fritz said. “It showed on the court. I got out there and really was struggling to hit the ball how I wanted to, and it’s my fault for not being ready enough. I didn’t see what more I could do, and it was unfortunate that I played so bad.”
Once again, Fritz had little time to reflect as he faced a predawn wake-up call so he could catch a flight out of Miami to Acapulco for the Abierto Mexicano Telcel. As if the hectic travel schedule was not enough, he ran into some complications in Mexico City and had to deal with a long layover.
These experiences help validate Fritz’s overall approach to his game and to the attention he is getting as the future of men’s tennis in the United States.
A California native, Fritz turned pro in August, then won the U.S. Open junior title in September. On his 18th birthday in October, Fritz was presented with a cake by Pete Sampras in Monterrey, Mexico, during a Challenger event.
He has won three Challenger events overall, most recently in Australia in January, a few weeks before earning a spot in the main draw of the Australian Open through qualifying. In the first round, he took his fellow American Jack Sock, then ranked 22nd, to five sets before losing.
“I’ve said it lots of times before, I play for myself, so I’m not worried about other people’s expectations,” said Fritz, who points to Sampras and Argentina’s Juan Martín del Potro as the two players whose style he emulates most. “I’m doing it for me, so I just deal with the expectations I put on myself.”
Fritz’s parents were professional tennis players, with his mother, Kathy, having cracked the top 10 on the WTA Tour. He played a number of different sports growing up, but he knew tennis was his calling.
He credits his parents and his support network for helping him get this far.
“There are so many people supporting me and so many good people on my side,” Fritz said. “It’s great to have for someone like me who’s trying to transition to the pros, and I’m really happy with the people I’ve surrounded myself with. My parents got me into tennis, and it’s why I do what I do, and probably why I do it as well as I do it, because I’ve always had their guidance and their experience and their help throughout my whole life.”
Now that he is experiencing the nuances of being a professional, Fritz has his own words of wisdom for young tennis players.
“I’d say if you make the decision, you commit to it,” he said. “And if you’re not going to commit to it, then I’d say just don’t take that step because it’s a lot of commitment, a lot of work, and if you’re going to do it, you need to do it the right way.”
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