Taylor Fritz ends 12-year drought for American tennis with new ranking
Taylor Fritz will end a 12-year wait for American men’s tennis on Monday when he reaches a new career-high ranking of No.7.
Fritz will be the highest ranked American player on the ATP tour since Mardy Fish reached the same position in 2011.
The American No.1 had his best year in 2022, winning three ATP titles including Indian Wells where he beat Rafael Nadal to win his first Masters 1000 crown. Fritz also won an ATP 500 event in Tokyo, as well as his second career title in Eastbourne.
Fritz broke into the top 10 for the first time after winning the title in the Japanese capital, and described it as a ‘dream’.
“I think every kid growing up and every player when you first start playing, [reaching the] top 10 is a massive milestone and it’s a dream that you want to tick off,” said Fritz.
He continued, “Obviously everyone wants to be No.1 in the world, top 5, there is more that I want to achieve. But I’ll always be a top 10 player. That can never be taken away from me.”
The 25-year-old also had his best Grand Slam performance last year, when he reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon before losing to Nadal in a fifth set match tie-break.
As a result of his success in 2022, Fritz became the first American since John Isner to reach the ATP finals singles event, where he reached the semi-finals before losing out to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
Fritz has had a mixed start to 2023 however, with success in the inaugural United Cup as part of the winning USA team, but has had less impressive results in individual events.
At the Australian Open he did not quite live up to his new top-10 status, losing in the second round to home favourite Alexei Popyrin.
In his most recent tournament in Dallas, Fritz was the top seed but fell in the semi-finals to rising Chinese star Yibing Wu. Despite this disappointment, Fritz will still rise one spot when the new ATP rankings are released tomorrow.
He will start his campaign as the new No.7 in Delray Beach next week, where he has a bye to the second round before playing either Emilio Gomez or a qualifier.
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