Fritz hails improved belief: “Now I feel like I belong in the top 5”

When the season began, Taylor Fritz told himself – and his team – that he wanted to end it inside the world’s top five. Mission accomplished.

It’s not the first time he’s been there; he was ranked No 5 briefly in 2023. That time, though, he felt a little like an imposter; this time, after a career-best year which included reaching his first slam final at the US Open, he feels he has earned it.

“Something I told my team…in 2023 when I won Delray 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’,” he said, smiling.

“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. The goals I set for myself were to finish top 5. My prior career high was 5, so I wanted to actually — I hit 5 for a week, and I wanted to actually finish 5.”

Already thinking ahead to 2025

Fritz may have missed out on ultimate glory at the ATP Finals as he was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Jannik Sinner in the final on Sunday but the American will climb to a career-high mark of No 4 when the rankings are updated on Monday, in perfect position to crack on in 2025.

The American has one more event to go – the Davis Cup – but he is already thinking of how he can continue to improve in 2025 as he tries to win a first slam.

“It’s been a really good week for me,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a good way to end the year. Gives me a lot of confidence finishing the season. I guess I still have Davis Cup next week or this week. Going into my off-season, starting next year, I feel like I have a good idea of what things I need to improve on, but I also feel like I’m playing very good tennis.

“I feel like I’ve gone up a level and I’m much more confident in my game.”

Fritz: “I need to get more explosive”

Specifically, Fritz said he needs to get even stronger.

“I definitely 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 is 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.

“Once they get big, it started getting a bit slower, I wasn’t generating enough power on my backhand to keep points neutral. I would lose control of the points. I think that’s something definitely I can work on. Tons of stuff.”

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