{"id":213284,"date":"2025-06-25T13:52:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T13:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/213284\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T13:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T13:52:09","slug":"taylor-fritz-my-happiness-revolves-around-results-id-think-about-it-forever-if-i-dont-win-a-slam-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/213284\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Fritz: \u2018My happiness revolves around results \u2013 I\u2019d think about it forever if I don\u2019t win a slam\u2019 | Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThat\u2019s the only reason I really want to be playing,\u201d Taylor Fritz says of his quest to win a grand slam tournament as he counts down the days to Wimbledon. Fritz, the world No 5, made the US Open final last year<\/a> but he believes Wimbledon offers him the best opportunity to claim that elusive prize. He is 27 and, with each passing year, the pressure of his ambition grows.<\/p>\n

Asked if he would feel an emptiness at the end of his career if he doesn\u2019t win a slam, Fritz admits the truth: \u201cI probably would. I\u2019d probably think about it forever if I don\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fritz grew up with privileged opportunities and personal challenges. His mother, Kathy May, was a top-10 player who reached three grand slam quarter-finals<\/a> in the 1970s, while his father, Guy, was a modest pro who eventually channelled his drive into coaching Taylor. It could be suffocating and chaotic and, at 17, Taylor removed his dad as coach and found his own way.<\/p>\n

A year later, he was a father himself after he and his teenage girlfriend, Raquel Pedraza, a fellow tennis player, became parents to a boy they called Jordan. As Fritz adjusted to marriage and fatherhood, it took him longer than expected to develop into a major contender. He and Perdraza divorced in 2019 and he is now part of one of tennis\u2019s more visible couples as his girlfriend Morgan Riddle has a large following on social media and openly criticises Donald Trump<\/a> and the impact his tariffs have had on the fashion industry.<\/p>\n

Fritz is less inclined to talk politics, consumed instead by tennis. I interview him twice in a week and each encounter shows how unpredictable and difficult life on tour remains. We meet first at Queen\u2019s Club, and have a relaxed 20-minute conversation in the early evening sunshine after a scorching day in west London.<\/p>\n

Taylor Fritz with his mother and former player Kathy May after victory over Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells in 2022. Photograph: Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The previous afternoon Fritz had won the Stuttgart Open and beaten Alexander Zverev, the world No 3, in straight sets. It was his fifth straight defeat of Zverev and consolidated Fritz\u2019s place as world No 4. His victory followed a dismal clay-court swing for Fritz where he had struggled with form and injury.<\/p>\n

But his Sunday evening plane from Stuttgart to London was cancelled and his preparations for Queen\u2019s were disrupted. He only arrived last Monday and, after a late practice session, Fritz told me: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I kept my positivity going [during his woes on clay which included a first-round loss in the French Open]. I was pretty down as a lot of my mood and happiness revolves around my results. It\u2019s tough because, as I get better, it takes more and more to make me happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last Tuesday evening I watched Fritz lose a tight three-setter to the tricky French player Corentin Moutet who survived a match point in the second. It meant that, with Jack Draper reaching the semi-finals<\/a>, Fritz had lost his place in the world top four to his British rival. The No 5 seed could now face a potential Wimbledon quarter-final against either Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz \u2013 currently the best players on the planet by some distance.<\/p>\n

However, when we resume our interview five days later, at Eastbourne, Fritz has recovered. Back at a tournament he has won three times, his upbeat mood is clear. \u201cThe courts at Eastbourne always feel really good and every year I\u2019ve won here I\u2019ve been at Queen\u2019s. I always feel Queen\u2019s is very slow and slippery. I have a hard time moving there but as soon as I reach Eastbourne I move really well.<\/p>\n

Fritz celebrates after defeating Alexander Zverev in the Stuttgart Open final earlier this month. Photograph: Marijan Murat\/AP<\/p>\n

\u201cStuttgart was also very fast but I had a nightmare getting out of there. I had to fly out the following morning, get off the plane, have one practice and play the next day. So I\u2019m not going to be too hard on myself about losing [to Moutet]. It was a tough turnaround.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fritz also seems sanguine when I ask if slipping outside the top four just before Wimbledon<\/a> is a blow. \u201cNo. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s that big a deal because if I was four and Draper five we could still have played each other in the quarters. It now means that Novak Djokovic can\u2019t be in my quarter. I could get Zverev [whom Fritz has beaten eight times in 13 matches] or maybe Alcaraz. Being fourth or fifth seed makes a very small difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is realistic about the gap that Alcaraz and Sinner have opened up. \u201cWe had a one-year gap in 2022-23 after [Roger] Federer retired where Rafa [Nadal] and Novak weren\u2019t playing many tournaments. Carlos was playing well but he wasn\u2019t established while Sinner wasn\u2019t fully there yet. For a year it felt like anything could happen. Now it seems we\u2019re back to some kind of domination by Alcaraz and Sinner. But it makes me even more determined to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fritz beat Sinner the first time they played, in 2021, but he lost their four subsequent encounters. He is yet to win a set in two matches against Alcaraz. \u201cI\u2019d say Carlos is the harder opponent for me but I have to add the caveat that when we played in the Laver Cup [last year] I ran into the on-fire version of him where it just feels like there\u2019s nothing you can do. So even though obviously Sinner has gotten me several times, pretty routinely, at least in those matches I felt like I could play tennis. In the Laver Cup with Carlos I felt, for about 80 to 90% of the match, I couldn\u2019t do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fritz on his way to a fourth-round victory over Alexander Zverev at last year\u2019s Wimbledon. Photograph: Paul Childs\/Reuters<\/p>\n

It would be easy to give up on his grand slam dream as Alcaraz and Sinner reached new heights of sustained brilliance in this month\u2019s French Open final<\/a>. But Fritz is bolstered by being \u201cdelusionally optimistic\u201d \u2013 a term applied to him by his fellow American pro, the giant Reilly Opelka, who played alongside Fritz, Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe on the junior circuit.<\/p>\n

Fritz embraces the description: \u201cYou need to be extremely confident in your abilities and believe in yourself. So being a bit delusional, in a positive way, is a good thing. When I was 14 I wasn\u2019t that good but I was very delusional in saying I was going to, without a doubt, make it. I truly believed it and there\u2019s no way I\u2019d be here now without it. I\u2019ll never knock anyone for saying things that might be delusional or hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is close to his coach Michael Russell, another former pro, because, Fritz says, \u201cI need someone who cares about it as much as I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Would he ever talk to a sports psychologist? \u201cNo, not at all. I don\u2019t necessarily believe in them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next week he takes his optimism, delusional or not, into Wimbledon which \u201cmight be the best chance for me to win a slam. I don\u2019t know if I would say I have a better chance in the US Open [where he lost the 2024 final to Sinner<\/a>]. It just comes down to which two weeks click for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

My joy in tennis has always been competing. I never enjoyed practising … I\u2019d make up injuries to get out of it<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fritz has reached two quarter-finals at Wimbledon, losing to Nadal after a fifth-set tie-break in 2022<\/a> and last year to Lorenzo Musetti, in another five-setter<\/a>, and he should have won both matches. But it is a sign of his forensic tennis memory that Fritz can talk about every match he played in reaching the semis at Junior Wimbledon in 2014 with just as much detail. That tournament became a catalyst for Fritz to emerge from relative obscurity to being No 1 junior in the world by the time he won the equivalent event at the US Open the following year.<\/p>\n

His break with his father, as his coach, was soon confirmed and Fritz offers a layered reflection on their relationship. \u201cMy dad was my coach growing up and he did an amazing job of always telling me: \u2018It\u2019s juniors and none of this really matters that much.\u2019 It took away the pressure because he told me it\u2019s all about improving and it only matters once you turn pro.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was never one of those parents that would be upset if I lost. He\u2019d say: \u2018Don\u2019t worry. In a couple of years you\u2019ll be so much better than that guy.\u2019 But he\u2019s also the one person I can always trust to keep it real. He\u2019ll tell me if it\u2019s bad. And if he tells me that it\u2019s good then it\u2019s really good, because it\u2019s tough to get a compliment. He\u2019s not someone who\u2019s going to lie to make me feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fritz wins a point against Jannik Sinner during last year\u2019s US Open final. Photograph: Sarah Stier\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

His dad worked him hard whereas, for Fritz, \u201cmy joy in tennis has always been competing. I never enjoyed practising when I was younger. I\u2019d make up injuries to get out of it. But as I got older, I started to enjoy how I\u2019d feel after I had a really good practice or pushed myself hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fritz also knew he needed a different coach to his father. \u201cHe wanted to coach me all the way through, but I needed someone that had been on tour. My dad\u2019s pretty old-fashioned. He\u2019ll just show up at the courts and ask people to practise at that time. It\u2019s not the most organised and it\u2019s also hard to have that coach\/father relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was Fritz changed dramatically by the experience of becoming a father at 18? \u201cYes, for sure. I had to learn how best to manage my time. At that age you\u2019re trying to become a better player and travelling \u2013 but I was trying to maximise the time I could spend with my son.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judging from his Instagram account where Fritz sometimes depicts himself as \u201ca soccer dad\u201d delighting in the assists and goals scored by his boy, he is much softer than his father. \u201cI can\u2019t be there as much with my son. I\u2019d love to be full time with him and so I\u2019m softer and can\u2019t help but spoil my son. My dad was the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

All these natural reflections on being a son and now a father allow Fritz to consider his future. \u201cWhen I\u2019m done [playing] it\u2019s going to be tough not to be involved in tennis. I love talking about the strategic part of the game and there\u2019s a very good chance I\u2019ll coach or be in charge of a player development centre to help find new pros.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will he still be chasing down slams in five years? \u201cI\u2019ll be almost 33. The way my body\u2019s been feeling the last couple of years I can\u2019t honestly say that, five years from now, it\u2019s going to be great. I don\u2019t know if I have that many more years of peak tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does this add to his urgency to one day win a grand slam? \u201cYes, for sure. But I\u2019ve never thought I had unlimited time. I\u2019ve always felt like I\u2019ve got to make it happen soon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThat\u2019s the only reason I really want to be playing,\u201d Taylor Fritz says of his quest to win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-213284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}