How Taylor Fritz Must Improve Before Becoming America's Next Men's Tennis Star
There’s been a spike of attention on American teenager Taylor Fritz since he played himself into the final of the Memphis Open.
He’s the front-runner of a bumper crop of young Americans expected to lead U.S. men’s tennis out of the major-winning drought that continues since young Andy Roddick hoisted up the 2003 U.S. Open title.
It’s also led to a lot of premature talk about the 18-year-old’s chances to be a star.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Steve Tignor of Tennis.com wrote: “So far the American champion who Fritz does call to mind is a young Pete Sampras.” He went on to compare their cool demeanors and easy serving motions, but he did caution that Fritz is far from a finished product.
The Californian teenager has created a lot of American excitement in one week, but he’s a long way from stardom, if he gets there at all.
He’s not the second coming of Sampras, and the odds of him becoming the greatest tennis player of all time are unrealistic.
So let’s shelve the hype and dive into what we’ve seen.
Reality of Growing Pains
The proof of Fritz’ potential was the way he dominated the juniors rank. He was ranked as the No. 1 juniors player in the world in 2015, and he was a juniors French Open finalist and U.S. Open winner. That’s important because it’s global competition.
He wrecked some challengers' brackets last fall, played tough in the first round of the Australian Open and streaked to the Memphis Open final last week.
However, it wasn’t an easy ride in Tennessee, and things kind of broke his way just to reach the final.
- Against fellow American Steve Johnson, Fritz struggled to break serve, but he was able to save seven break points and hold onto his big serve. His return game was suspect.
- He survived Benjamin Becker, a veteran who is not a top-100 player. Becker was unable to serve out the match with a 6-5 lead in the third set.
- In the semifinals against Ricardas Berankis, Fritz was getting schooled until he increased the pace of his serve. It worked this time, but as ATP players see his delivery and patterns, he will need more variety.
- He raced to a 3-0 lead in the final against world No. 7 Kei Nishikori, but he was blitzed 12-3 to end the match. The Nishikori match in particular exposed the difference between a promising player and a polished star. More on that below.
- Fritz crashed in his match at Delray Beach, falling 6-3, 6-3 to Tim Smyczek, a smaller, journeyman American ranked No. 129. The big difference was Fritz’s failure to win the battle of second-serve points. He struggled with only 36 percent points held on second serve, and he only converted on 36 percent of Smyczek’s modest serve.
Memphis and Delray Beach show that Fritz is ready to compete, but that he is far from the consistency and superior dominance he hopes to one day achieve.
Breaking Bad and Good
The first thing in analyzing Fritz’s game is that he does not resemble Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe or other American legends. He’s more in the mold of Roddick, albeit with his own unique skills and potential. Unless he wins big titles, there’s no sense in comparing him to the greats.
During the Nishikori match, I noted several particulars to his game.
While Fritz has shown that he has a strong professional first serve, his second serve needs several layers of improvement.
His slice serve does not have enough depth and bite, and so far he’s been more reluctant to use his kick serve, which effectively confused Nishikori at times.
Fritz has designs to be a power baseliner. When he dictates play, he has big groundstrokes along the lines of a Tomas Berdych or Juan Martin del Potro. He will be able to overpower most players with strong offense, and he can hit powerful corner-to-corner shots that will set up a lot of short balls.
His backhand has very impressive power, a big-time weapon that could knock over a fence post. Unless he gets stretched defensively, he’s going to lean in for a lot of explosive shots.
Fritz needs to improve when to attack. Several times against Nishikori, he had the early control but was unable to put away weaker shots. The Japanese star was effective in getting points back to neutral and frustrating Fritz’s control. The American often countered with a desperate blast that sailed the baseline, unwilling to keep extending the point.
A lot of Fritz’s difficulties against Nishikori could be explained by more reluctant footwork. His speed and athleticism should be better than Berdych or Del Potro, but at times he stumbled in the wrong direction with his momentum or was tardy in getting to a ball that the Japanese player had angled. Greater anticipation and experience will be needed to shore this up.
Fritz will not be a great defender. Footwork and defensive wizardry has been the bread and butter for Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. At 6’4”, Fritz lacks Sampras’ cat-like quickness or smoothness on the baseline and at net.
Instead, he’s going to have to punch his opponents in the mouth.
His return game has been a weakness thus far, but more experience in reading pro serves will go a long way to helping him. His ceiling here is higher than someone like Milos Raonic, and he has good reach.
He’s also aware that he must work on his shortcomings. In an interview with ESPN.com’s Matt Wilansky, Fritz outlined his objectives:
"First priority is to work really hard in the gym and improve my movement. This will help my transition game and get to the net. I also want to improve my serve a lot. I want to get it to the point where I am holding all the time—to an elite level that will take pressure off the rest of my game.
"
Fritz, like fellow youngster Nick Kyrgios, will need to harness his imaginative, bold strokes with a more strategic attack—early and often.
He will love using fast courts to whip forehands and lean into his flat backhands. He must learn to play extended points with his mind and feet. If so, the offense will be an impressive payoff.
A Champion’s Mind
There are hundreds of world-class tennis players, all with ambitions to be the best player in the world. But for every talented elite player like Djokovic, there are far more who cannot put it all together to be an elite champion.
Few players possess more skills and talent than Grigor Dimitrov, but the Bulgarian is No. 28 in the world. There’s a plethora of reasons ranging from his difficulties in beating veteran stars, ambivalence in being aggressive on the baseline, staleness under a fitness-minded coach like Roger Rasheed, and questions about his mentality during crucial stages of a match.
Fritz would love to solve all of these variables in his own career, but there’s a long road ahead. How will he respond under pressure when he’s expected to win and dominate? Last week he was playing with house money, so the ride was more exhilarating with every win a new milestone.
How will the young American respond to the global grind of the ATP tour, battling proud, scrappy veterans and promising young players with the same goals?
We’re going to find out more about Fritz’s durability, adaptability and mentality. How will he respond to adversity during the crucial points, and how will he respond to slumps or tough spells that span several weeks and months?
For American tennis fans, there’s a lot to love about Fritz’s power and potential. He’s a fine athlete with a lot of upside who seems to relish playing professional tennis. He’s got a nice smile, confident appearance and a few big tennis weapons to get started.
His future is wide open, but it’s going to take time.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
