In the early morning of March 21, 2022, Beijing time, the ATP1000 Indian Wells Masters on the other side of the ocean came to the news that Rolex spokesperson, 24-year-old American local tennis player Taylor Fritz, unexpectedly defeated 21st Grand Slam champion Nadal in the men's singles final with a score of 6-3, 7-6 (5), ending the opponent's 20-consecutive victory in the new season, lifting the second crown of his career and the first Masters championship trophy. And raise the world ranking to a new personal high - 13th, back to the United States brother throne.
Fritz and the mother of a former professional player
Who is Taylor Fritz? Some fans may not be familiar with him enough. Taylor was born on October 28, 1997, to a wealthy family in California, usa, with two older brothers: Chris and Kyle. His great-great-grandfather, David Macega, founded the department store and later merged with the well-known Macy's in the United States. His mother, Casey May, was a former professional tennis player who was ranked in the top 10 in the world in 1977, reaching the quarter-finals of the French Open and the US Open. His father, Guy Fritz, also played professional tennis and later served as a tennis coach.
Fritz with his girlfriend
Although only 24 years old, Fritz already had a marriage experience, in 2016, at the age of 18, he married his then-girlfriend Raquel Pedrazza, and the following year his son Jordan was born, and the two divorced at the end of 2019. Fritz is currently dating social media celebrity Morgan Riddle. The new girlfriend often follows Fritz around the world, posting many interesting tour life on social media, attracting a lot of young people's attention to tennis.
Influenced by his parents, Taylor began tennis initiation classes from the age of two, much earlier than the average professional player who started playing at the age of five or six. Growing up, his tennis idols were Sampras and Del Potro, and in 2015, when he competed in the Challenge in Monterrey, Mexico, Sampras also made a surprise appearance to give him a birthday cake.
As a teenager, Fritz rose to prominence, reaching the final four of the Wimbledon Junior Division in 2014 and winning the Osaka Mayors Cup in the A-Division. In 2015, he reached at least eight of all four Grand Slam junior divisions, including losing to compatriot Tommy Paul in the French Open final and revenge at the US Open final. At the end of 2015, Fritz topped the youth world number one throne, and since the new millennium, only Roddick in 2000 has done so in Donald Young in 2005.
Among fritz's fellow U.S. male players, he has a very good relationship with Paul and Opelka, all of whom were born in 1997 and are now well established on the Tour. At this year's Indian Wells station, Fritz also played doubles with Paul and reached the quarterfinals.
In the past, American men's tennis was once very strong, from the early Connors and McEnroe, to the 90s Correll, Zhang Depei, Sampras, Agassi, and then to the later Roddick, the American men's tennis team has had a lot of glorious history. However, in the past decade, the European technology stream led by the Big Four has dominated the men's tennis world, and the American cannon with simple and rough play has occasional masterpieces, but it is difficult to climb to the top, and the last time the Americans won the Grand Slam men's singles championship was Roddick of the 2003 US Open. After Roddick retired in 2012, only two American players, Isner and Sock, had broken into the world's top ten.
However, the recent U.S. men's tennis has ushered in signs of recovery, and the performance of many young players is refreshing, in addition to the aforementioned Fritz, Opelka, Paul, as well as the younger Tiafo, Koda, Brooksby and other rookies. In the latest edition of the ATP World Rankings, as many as 12 American players in the top 100 have gradually formed a wave of group advantages.
Fritz first crown: Eastbourne 2019
Since turning pro in 2015, Fritz has quickly found the rhythm of the adult category. He broke into the world's top 100 in 2016 and won the ATP Rising Star Award that year, and was one of the representative figures in the "New Force" selected by the ATP. In 2018 he made it to the top 50. In 2019 he won his first title in the ATP250 Eastbourne grass race against compatriot Quirey, placing him in the top 25 in the world rankings.
However, Fritz has been stuck in an awkward position in the past two or three years, and the ranking has been floating around 30. One statistic is telling, starting with the 2018 U.S. Open, he has reached the round of 32 of a Grand Slam seven times, but all fell to the third round, including last year's Australian Open third round and Djokovic to the decider. It wasn't until this year's Australian Open that he finally broke through this cycle, beating Agut to reach the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time and advance to the top 20 in the world rankings.
Since 2018, Fritz has studied under famous coach Paul Anakon, who was a professional player, who came to 12th place in the world ranking in 1986, and has coached Sampras, Henman, Federer, Stephens, Wawrinka and other famous players. In addition, Fritz's coaching team includes former American professional player Mike Russell and former South African professional player David Naikin, which is very well-equipped. Among them, Russell has accompanied Fritz on a full trip since the end of last year, and the run-in between the two has been very successful, and Fritz has made significant progress in these months.
When it comes to Fritz's style of play, the first is to serve the ball vigorously, his height is 1 meter 96, the fastest service speed is 237KMH, ranking the best in the men's tennis world. His bottom line forehand and backhand are relatively balanced, and he can launch a strong attack from both wings. What is valuable is that while the forehand firepower can quickly score points, Fritz did not fall into the quagmire of the general backhand "heavenly disability" of the cannon players, and the power of the backhand cannot be underestimated, often creating a small slash with an overly large angle.
Looking at the world tennis world, Fritz's breakthrough is actually a little late, like Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Beretini, Rublev, Rude, Hulkach, Shapovalov, these "post-95s", and even younger "post-00s" Aliasim and Sina have already tasted the world's top ten, several of which have experience in Grand Slam finals, while Fritz has not yet reached the top ten in the world, and the Grand Slam has never reached the quarterfinals.
However, Fritz has been on the right path, making progress step by step, from October last year to the present, in five months, he has defeated the world's top ten five times, including Berrettini, Zverev, Rublev, Nadal and other famous players. In particular, this victory at the Indian Wells Masters is a leap from quantitative change to qualitative change, and the final victory over Nadal is fritz's first defeat of the Big Four members, and the boost to his confidence is undoubtedly huge.
According to media reports, in fact, fritz was suffering from an ankle injury before the final, the pre-match training only lasted five minutes to go back to rest, the team members advised him to withdraw from the final, but he was unwilling to give up the opportunity to compete for the championship, found a doctor to deal with the injury, took a shot closed, endured severe pain in the game and went all out, and finally played a beautiful victory, which was also the first time since Agassi in 2001 that the United States won the men's singles crown in Indian Wells.
In the future, whether Fritz can carry the banner of the recovery of the U.S. men's tennis team and how high he can achieve, it is difficult to predict, but it is certain that with his will quality, dedication, and serious attitude towards tennis, it will definitely not be a short-lived player, but will be the backbone of the tour that cannot be ignored, and a bigger breakthrough may be waiting for a moment.
(Text: He Song, Photo: Visual China)