| October 11, 2024 | by Vivienne Christie |
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Having first picked up a racquet as a two-year-old, Taylor Fritz has absorbed countless lessons in tennis. It helps that the sport is the American's family business - his mother, Kathy May, is a former top-10 player on the women's tour and his father, Guy, is a coach.
But perhaps Fritz's biggest, and most important, tennis lesson has occurred in a stellar year on tour. Alongside winning two career titles - one on the hard courts of Delray Beach, the other on grass at Eastbourne - the 26-year-old contested a maiden Grand Slam final at the US Open.
"I think the biggest thing that I can take away from lot of the good results, and confidence that I can gain from a lot of these things is just I am a very, like, improved player just at my average level. I don't need to play incredible to have amazing results," said Fritz, who claimed wins over Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev and Frances Tiafoe I New York before a runner-up finish to world No.1, Jannik Sinner.
"That's something that I think I used to stress a lot about, being very hypercritical of my game certain weeks. If something wasn't working for me, if I wasn't feeling like I was playing amazing, then I would almost like write the week off and be like, ‘Oh, well, maybe I can win a couple matches, but this isn't really going to be the week for me, I'm not playing well enough'.
"If a lot of my results this year, US Open included, taught me anything, it's that I don't need to be playing perfect to have deep runs in tournaments and to have big results."
It's an approach that has served Fritz superbly in his progress to a first Rolex Shanghai Masters semifinal. Showing improvements in each match he has contested so far at the tournament, Fritz has progressed past Terence Atmane, Yosuke Watanuki, No.12 seed Holger Rune and David Goffin without the loss of a set.
"I feel like sometimes it takes a couple of matches to find my routines, what feels good and what's working for me," said Fritz. "I feel like once I got past those first two rounds, I feel like, very locked in. I feel like I've come this far already, might as well really dial it in."
Already sitting at world No.7, Fritz is set to improve on his current position as the No.1 American. He led a group of nine countrymen in the Rolex Shanghai Masters main draw, second only to France with 10 representatives.
"It feels good to be a part of the group, for sure. I think it's great for American tennis that we've got so many guys," said Fritz. "It's great that we're all able to push each other, because I think some of us doing well, or one of us doing well, I think it pushes the others, and I think it makes all of us better."
It's Fritz, though, who is leading the late-season charge, giving hope that his goal to hold a top-five ranking at season's end is well within reach.
"The goal going into every season in the beginning is like I'm trying to qualify for Turin and be top eight, I think that's always like a good benchmark goal," explained the 26-year-old, who peaked at No.5 after claiming the biggest of his eight career titles at Indian Wells in 2022.
"Now that that's looking good, in a really good spot, I always want to re-evaluate my goals. Sometimes once you reach a goal, I don't think it's good to get a little bit, I guess, complacent.
"So, yeah, the new one that I set for myself is it would be cool to finish the year top five. Obviously that's my career high, but I think finishing the year at that rank as a whole is a whole different thing. … it's a goal that motivates me a lot to kind of finish the year strong."
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