Finally, Taylor Fritz Forces His Way Into the Top 10

SAN DIEGO — With the American tennis star Taylor Fritz stuck in his hotel room in Seoul last month with Covid-19 and a high fever, his longtime goal of breaking into the ATP top 10 seemed just out of reach again.

But that was before Fritz hopped on a stationary bike to stay in shape and then hopped on a flight from Seoul to Tokyo last Wednesday after a mandatory week in isolation, just in time for his next tournament. Four days later, he won the Japan Open, defeating his compatriot Frances Tiafoe in the final. Welcome to the top 10 at last, as the ATP rankings made clear on Monday with Fritz at No. 8.

“It’s definitely one of those goals you have your whole life,” Fritz said after arriving back in Los Angeles. “It’s not the end goal by any means, and I don’t want to make people think that because I’m celebrating it, but it’s a huge milestone and no one is ever going to take that away from me.”

It also makes him the second top-10 player in his tennis family. Fritz’s mother, Kathy May, joined that club in 1977 on the WTA Tour. Fritz’s father, Guy, peaked at No. 301 in the ATP singles rankings in 1979. “I do think it would be cool to be highest ranked in the family,” Fritz said.

Fritz’s breakthrough is the latest sign of resurgence for American men’s tennis. These are not yet the good old days, not even close. Americans often dominated the tour in the late 20th century with serial champions such as John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Andy Roddick, who won the U.S. Open in 2003, remains the last American man to win a major singles title or reach No. 1.

But it would be churlish not to acknowledge the progress in 2022 with Tiafoe making a stirring run to the semifinals of the U.S. Open last month and the big-serving Fritz winning three titles and putting together his finest season with the cameras often rolling behind the scenes. (He is one of the players being followed for a “Drive to Survive” style series on Netflix.) He is the first American man in the top 10 since John Isner in June 2019 and the first American man to make his top-10 debut since Jack Sock in November 2017.

Both Fritz and the 17th-ranked Tiafoe are 24 years old, which given the increased staying power of men’s tennis players most likely means that their best years are ahead of them. The Fritz-Tiafoe duel in Tokyo, an ATP 500 event, was the fifth all-American men’s singles final on tour this season. Of the seven other American men ranked in the top 50, six are age 25 or younger: Tommy Paul, Maxime Cressy, Reilly Opelka, Jenson Brooksby, Brandon Nakashima and Sebastian Korda.

“Everyone’s just been constantly improving over the last couple years, and now it’s finally at the point where some of the big guys are dropping out or are a little more beatable than they used to be,” Fritz said. “A lot of the people at the top right now and having lots of success are people we played growing up and we all know we can beat. I see no reason why there’s not going to be four or five Americans in the top 20 in two years.”

The caveat is that Carlos Alcaraz, the beguiling new men’s No. 1, is even younger than the leaders of the new American wave. Alcaraz, a 19-year-old Spaniard, beat Tiafoe in five sets on his way to winning the U.S. Open. Jannik Sinner, a devastating ball striker from Italy who is widely and rightly considered the next best young talent in the world, is 21.

The American renaissance will clearly continue to face plenty of resistance, including a still-formidable Novak Djokovic. But that is no reason for Fritz not to savor Monday’s math. “I think regardless of what happens the next 10 years of my career, this will always probably be one of my biggest career achievements,” he said.

Fritz, known since his junior days as a tenacious competitor, has made a habit of rebounding quickly. In 2021, less than a month after right knee surgery, he won two rounds at Wimbledon. This year, he won the biggest title of his career at the BNP Paribas Open after injuring his ankle in the final stages of the semifinal and screaming in pain during the warm-up session before his final against Rafael Nadal, who was dealing with a cracked rib.

This time, Fritz had to bounce back twice. He lost in the first round of the U.S. Open to the American qualifier Brandon Holt, who had never won a main-draw singles match on tour.

“New York was a good learning experience,” Michael Russell, one of Fritz’s coaches, said. “He put way too much pressure on himself to perform at his home Slam as well as being able to manage all of the off-court obligations with being the top-ranked American there.”

Fritz said it was bittersweet to follow the progress of Tiafoe, whom he has known since they were 14.

“Obviously, I was happy for my friend; I think Frances deserved it,” Fritz said. “Over the years, he’s lost so many tight matches with top players that it was finally time for him to start winning those and go on a run, but at the same time I’m watching it, and it killed me. I felt like I should be there, too. I felt like my draw was good. I just had a shocking day.”

Fritz quickly returned for team competition in Europe last month: helping the U.S. qualify for the Davis Cup final phase and then helping Team World defeat Team Europe for the first time in the Laver Cup, the event cocreated by Roger Federer that also served as his emotional retirement vehicle. In Federer’s last official match, he and his doubles partner, Nadal, were beaten by Sock and Tiafoe. Fritz said he was angry that his teammates received so much criticism on social media for playing at full throttle.

“I definitely cried a lot more than I thought I was going to,” he said of Federer’s farewell. “But I was pretty upset to see how much hate Frances and Jack got for winning the match and Frances got for hitting Roger or hitting the ball at Rafa at net. This is not an exhibition. We are playing for a lot and for a lot of money. It bothered me a lot because I know Roger would have absolutely hated it if they just gave it to him.”

Team World celebrated late into the night in London, and Fritz then caught a 12-hour flight to Seoul, only to test positive for Covid-19 the day after arrival, which kept him out of the Seoul tournament and left him with a spiking fever and sore throat despite being double vaccinated and boosted.

Fritz was eventually able to start working out in his hotel room in Seoul: pedaling on a stationary bike and even bench pressing his girlfriend, Morgan Riddle, who had also tested positive for Covid, as she stretched out on her side in a bathrobe to turn herself into the equivalent of a barbell.

Fritz soon returned to more conventional training methods and the tennis court in Tokyo: winning in three sets in the first round over James Duckworth after going a week without hitting a ball. Fritz then guaranteed his top-10 spot by beating Denis Shapovalov in another three-setter in the semifinals before defeating Tiafoe, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2).

“Taylor was putting a lot of pressure on himself to get over that top 10 hurdle the last couple months,” Russell said. “Beating Shapo in the semis really freed up his mind for the final to play some of his best tennis.”

Next goals: qualifying for the eight-man ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, next month and then cracking the top five and making “a big run” in a Grand Slam tournament in 2023. Whatever happens from here, he already has a good story to tell. “The fact I spent seven days in a hotel room and was able to fly the morning of the tournament and win a 500 is pretty crazy,” he said.