Since tennis is tennis in terms of international competition, USA It was always a power due to its sports structure, economic possibilities and its own tradition. Therefore, it must be surprising that for more than a decade, or maybe more (since Andy Roddick left), none of its players could play first name in the grand finals or discuss world supremacy. Numerous tennis players emerged with good chances, but none capable of arguing so loudly. Right now, Taylor Harry Fritz is the highest rated. At 25 years old, he left positive feelings at Wimbledon -when the quarter-final match against Rafa Nadal narrowly escaped him- although only the (near) future will reveal how far he will go.
Nadal beat him 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 and 7-6 (10-4) in a match that lasted four hours and 20 minutes at the Centro Court of La Catedral, but which had an outcome bitter for both. Due to his abdominal injury -which affected him during that battle- the Spaniard could not continue in the tournament (and opened his way to the final for Nick Kyrgios). Fritz, for his part, declared that “This is probably the most painful loss of my career. When the game was over, I wanted to cry.”. He lamented that “when Nadal was worse, in the second set, I let him be more offensive”.
This Sunday, the American (9th) will collide again with the Spanish (2nd) in his debut at the ATP Finals in Turin, which will be played from 13 to 20 in the northern Italian city. Both share the Green Group with the Norwegian Casper Ruud (3rd) and the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (6th). While the Red Group will have Stefanos Tsitsipas (3rd, Greece) Daniil Medvedev (5th, Russia) Andrey Rublev (7th, Russia) and Novak Djokovic (8th, Serbia).
The number 1 in the ranking, the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, will not be able to be there due to an abdominal injury and your position is at risk.
Fritz is one of the few tennis players who had the luxury of beating Nadal this season, in March, and that meant his first title in a Masters 1000: Indian Wells. Thus, he became the first American to achieve that crown since Agassi did it back in 2001. From that moment on, Fritz climbed the ranking and after obtaining the ATP 500 in Tokyo, his third title of the season, he managed to get into the top ten
The origins of Taylor Fritz
Born on October 28, 1997 in Rancho Santa Fe, a town near San Diego, California, Taylor Fritz offers one of the most curious stories within the male scene: her mother, Kathy May, was a noted player back in the 1970s and the family ties are just as significant.
Kathy won seven titles in the women’s major circuit, monopolized at the time by Evert and Navratilova, and married another well-known tennis player, Brian Teacher. Originally from San Diego, she joined college tennis at the prestigious University of California-Los Angeles, whose team led by Arthur Ashe first and Jimmy Connors later dominated the main titles (our Tito Vázquez also walked there).
Teacher was destined for relevant places when he decided to turn to professional tennis and postpone his studies (which he later resumed, to graduate in Economics). But that era of big tennis dominated by the Borg, Connors and Vilas did not leave so much space for the others and Teacher advanced to a second linereaching his best rating -7th place in the ATP- in the middle of 1981. Also that year he placed his name in a privileged place: champion of the Australian Open by beating local Kim Warwick in the final, the same as only three days before he had blocked the way for our Guillermo Vilas, who was going for his third consecutive crown on the pitch of the Kooyong.
That title of Brian Teacher, the only one he won at the Grand Slams, had his own crumb: he came from an extensive tour and hours before the start of the Australian Open, his wife Khaty called him on the phone and left him in shock: “I want the divorce”. They had been married for two years and Teacher didn’t understand a thing. She recounted it later: “I canceled my registration for the tournament and called my father-in-law, told him that I was going home immediately to fix the situation. She replied that it was not a good idea, he advised me to take a break in Hawaii and reflect”. However, Teacher retraced his steps and asked the director of the Australian Open to let him participate. He was lucky, a place was opened by another last minute defection and Teacher entered as a guest tennis player… Likewise, his marriage was over. Kathy May was the daughter of David May II, the heir to the Macy’s empire. which at that time included 320 stores in the vast geography of the United States. And Kathy’s maternal grandfather, Mervyn LeRoy, was a famous producer in Hollywood, whose works included none other than “The Wizard of Oz”. For all this and much more, she was surprised that -once divorced from Teacher- Kathy’s second husband was a firefighter, named Don Paben, with whom she had two children.
Brian Teacher, for his part, continued to be active on the professional circuit until he retired, forced by hip and spinal injuries. He became a top trainer, counting on Agassi and Greg Rusedsky among his main pupilsand still today maintains his “BT Tennis Academy” in California.
Kathy, once the second of those marriages ended, reoffended with a man from tennis: Harry Fritz, player with few results but renowned coach. And they are Taylor’s parents.
To Taylor Fritz, then, tennis came from the cradle. He had outstanding teachers and coaches like David Nainkin y Paul Annacone, and already from his youth campaigns he emerged strongly: US Open 2015 champion, Roland Garros finalist, as well as Wimbledon semifinalist twice. The transition to the professional field was as hard as it happens to most, but he had an important experience in challengers and minor tournaments, until settling in the big events of the circuit: Wimbledon was the best, while in Australia he reached the fourth round earlier this year, while in France and the US Open it has not yet gone through the third round.
He married very young, with another tennis player, Rachel Pedraza, they had a son (Jordan) but they also separated shortly after. Now, the TV focuses during Taylor Fritz’s games on his new partner, Morgan Riddle, a model and influencer who helped Taylor Fritz venture even more intensely into social networks, especially Tik Tok. “Anything he does to attract people’s attention to tennis in the United States will be very good,” justifies the player, who also has investments in e-Sports, displaying his love of video games there. He also mentioned Pete Sampras as his “idol” in tennis although, in terms of results, he can hardly emulate him.
