Taylor Fritz has previously been ranked as high as fifth in the PIF ATP Rankings but this time he feels more at ease about it.
Fritz capped off his season on the ATP Tour by finishing runner-up to Jannik Sinner at the Tour Finals on Sunday. Fritz, who defeated Alexander Zverev in the semifinals, is the first American man to reach the title match since 2006. The run has secured his place in the year-end top five for the first time in his career.
The latest result comes at the end of a season where Fritz has claimed a trio of ATP 250 titles and reached his first major final at the US Open. This year was also the first time he has made the last eight or better at three Grand Slam events.
“I’ve thought a lot recently about kind of the position I’m in. I’d say more so this week with just the tennis I’ve been playing, it’s more like I’ve been thinking about just the belief I had,” Fritz told reporters in Turin.
“Something I told my team was, whenever it was, 2023 when I won Delray (Beach) right before I was defending the Indian Wells title when I hit 5 in the world for, like, a week, I was kind of like, That’s crazy, I’m 5 in the world, look at all these guys ranked behind me that are probably better than me.
“Back then I was 5, but I didn’t feel like I was 5. Now I’m ranked where I’m at. I feel like I belong.
“It’s a different feeling. It’s been a great year. That gives me a lot of confidence to have that belief. That’s a huge part of having the big results.”
Although, the 27-year-old admits there is still room for improvement when it comes to taking on the top names. He has played a No.1 player 11 times in his career but has lost all of those encounters. He currently has a win-loss record of 29-43 against top 10 players, including 10-10 this season alone.
“I need to get more just explosive, quicker first step,” he said.
“If I can just get a little quicker off the split step, it will help my return of serve a lot. If I can just put myself in slightly better chances to break serve, I think that’s going to be a huge improvement. That’s something I’ve done already, but I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement there.
“Something that got exposed today(against Sinner) was when the balls got pretty worn out, I was struggling to generate any power with my backhand. It allowed him to take control of a lot of points. When the balls were newer, that wasn’t really an issue. I was able to stay in the points.”
Fritz will head to Malaga for the Davis Cup Finals in what will be his last tournament before the off-season. This year’s event will be headlined by Rafael Nadal who will be retiring from the sport after more than two decades on the Tour.
“I feel like there’s so many lefties that just look to Rafa as like the gold standard of what you want to do,” he commented.
“When I was a kid, I’d be on the court pretending I’m playing the French Open, doing like this and stuff. He’s had a massive impact on my whole generation because we all grew up watching him and Roger (Federer).”
Fritz will rise to No.4 in the rankings on Monday.
