INSIDE LE CLUB, a dimly lit salon beneath French restaurant Maison Batard in the Melbourne CBD, Taylor Fritz is leaning into the back of a black leather stool, microphone in hand. He looks so casual, so relaxed, I half-expect him to unfurl his impressive wingspan and stretch, right there on stage. “I’m not really feeling the pressure from other people wanting me to win a Slam, or from the guys trying to pass me,” the world No. 4 tells a crowd of 70 fans, who have gathered to listen to him and fellow BOSS ambassador Matteo Berrettini chat. “I’m very focused on myself. It’s very much just taking care of what I can take care of, and not worrying about all the outside stuff.” 

Throughout the conversation, the tone and pace of his West Coast accent barely changes. At one point, Berrettini – who is just as quintessentially Italian as Fritz is Californian – jokes that Fritz “doesn’t seem so excited”, adding, “Don’t worry, he is excited – I know him”. Fritz laughs, a little bashfully. He couldn’t appear less concerned about what lies ahead if he tried.

Taylor Fritz Esquire
Taylor wears all clothing by BOSS. Photography: Dean Podmore. Styling: Grant Pearce

Two days earlier, I’m buzzed up to the penthouse of a Melbourne hotel, where I’m to meet Fritz on the set of his Esquire Australia photoshoot. It’s the week before the 2025 Australian Open, and the 27-year-old from Rancho Santa Fe, just outside of San Diego, is entering the tournament with a career-high ranking, having grabbed the fourth spot after reaching the Nitto ATP Finals championship match in November last year. Of course, no one just ‘grabs’ the world No. 4 ranking. Since turning pro in 2015, Fritz has worked his 6’5’’ frame off, going from gangly hopeful to serious contender with a whopping serve and powerful, pinpoint groundstrokes that can send more-fancied names packing (as was the case when, aged 19, he dispatched Marcos Baghdatis in the first round of the 2017 US Open – his first win at a major tournament). 

Fritz cracked the top 50 the following year, the top 25 in 2020 and, with an emotional victory at the 2022 Indian Wells Masters, his home tournament, he entered the top 10. Just before that, following a strong 2021 – a year that saw him snare his only win to date against current world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, also at Indian Wells – the Californian became the top-ranked US men’s singles player. He’s held onto that position ever since, with fellow countrymen Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe, whom he ascended the junior rankings alongside, never an entirely comfortable distance behind. 

In season two of the Netflix docuseries Break Point, which follows some of the world’s best tennis players as they flit from Slam to Slam, Fritz is asked by the show’s producers what it feels like to be the top-ranked American man. He responds: “There’s definitely a target on my back”. Today, in the hotel penthouse, he opts for a more measured answer. “I obviously want to be the American that wins a Slam, the guy who does what all the American people have been wanting someone to do for a long time,” he says, as our make-up artist applies a little moisturiser to his forehead, which already looks as if it’s been kissed by the sun. “It’s cool that people look to me for that. But, in the end, whatever pressure or expectations other people are putting on me, it’ll never match up to the pressure or expectations I put on myself, or the standards I hold myself to. I’m doing this for me.”

Taylor Fritz Esquire
Taylor wears all clothing by BOSS. Photography: Dean Podmore. Styling: Grant Pearce

THE FIRST TIME Fritz picked up a tennis racquet, he was barely two years old. “A lot of people said that was too early,” his father and then-coach Guy Fritz recently told online tennis coaching platform Coach Life, “but it was okay because we didn’t play that much. We just got him in, got him introduced to it, got him seeing the ball.” 

Fritz began playing International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments in 2013, aged 15, becoming a regular on the circuit soon after. In 2015, he defeated Tommy Paul at the US Open Junior Championships (after losing to him at the French), finishing the year as the top-ranked junior boys tennis player. He was then named the 2015 ITF Junior World Champion, becoming the first American to hold the title since Donald Young in 2005. 

Fritz was coached by his father throughout his junior years, a time he looks back on as crucial in the development of his extreme work ethic, even if tennis did put some pressure on their father-son relationship. “He worked me hard and maybe, at the time, I wasn’t happy about it, and it caused a little friction with us,” he says in the first season of Break Point. “But I know in the end he knew that I’d be thankful for it all, and I am.”

Taylor Fritz Esquire
Taylor wears all clothing by BOSS. Photography: Dean Podmore. Styling: Grant Pearce

When Fritz turned pro, he parted ways with his father, working with David Nainkin before eventually enlisting former ATP player Michael Russell to join his team as head coach in 2021. (Guy, along with Fritz’s mother Kathy May, a former top 10 player, is still a fixture in Fritz’s box, though he and May separated when Fritz was 18). In Fritz, Russell inherited a workhorse; if he wasn’t the best young player (Fritz has said he was “really bad” compared to his junior compatriots Tiafoe and Paul), he was going to work his ass off to excel on the senior tour.

Paul Annacone, who coached Pete Sampras from 1995-2002 and Roger Federer from 2010-2013, also joined Fritz’s coaching staff shortly after he turned pro. On a recent episode of Andy Roddick’s tennis podcast, Served, American journalist Jon Wertheim recalled a conversation he had with Annacone around the time he began working with Fritz. “Paul said, ‘This guy could win majors . . . He will be outworked by nobody. He gets mad at himself’.” 

“I am very hard on myself, but I also think that’s why I’m at where I’m at,” Fritz tells me as the makeup artist moves to spray something dewy through his mop of floppy brown hair. “I don’t think I’d be here today if I wasn’t so hard on myself, and didn’t expect so much from myself.” I ask if he ever puts too much pressure on himself. “Maybe at times. I’ve gotten better at it,” he shrugs. “But I think a big thing behind why I’ve been able to improve and get to where I’m at is because, at the end of the day, I am extremely, extremely hard on myself. I expect a lot.”

“I don’t think I’d be HERE today if I wasn’t so HARD on myself, and didn’t EXPECT so much from myself”

In 2023, this relentless drive saw Fritz win the inaugural United Cup with team USA, and, following a semi-final finish at the Dallas Open and a win at the Delray Beach Open, he climbed to world No. 7. If anyone doubted his fighting spirit, this was the year Fritz truly revealed the depths of his grit and stamina, winning 54 of his 77 matches.

He’s clearly wildly competitive, but Fritz is also good under pressure. While world No. 9 Andrey Rublev is known for taking his anger out on his racquet (and his own body), and No. 5 Daniil Medvedev is famous for directing his frustration towards the crowd (and, most recently, net cameras), Fritz isn’t an outburst kind of guy. “He’s quiet and reserved and very mellow . . . His heart rate doesn’t even go up one beat per minute if we’re late for a flight,” Wolfgang Oswald, Fritz’s physiotherapist, told the ATP last year. “If you watch him play, he fights tooth and nail to the end. But I think being calm most of the time helps the mental energy. When you have to turn it on, you can turn it on.” 

There are, however, two things capable of ruffling Fritz’s feathers. “Having a frustrating tennis practice, and FIFA,” he says. “I’m fully retired from FIFA [the video game] – that brought out a different kind of rage in me . . . but I’d say those are the only two things that can make me lose it.” 

He still loves gaming, and plays regularly to unwind after a big day of training. “Now I just play League of Legends, and a bit of World of Warcraft. Yeah, it’s mainly just those two.”

Taylor Fritz Esquire
Taylor wears all clothing by BOSS. Photography: Dean Podmore. Styling: Grant Pearce

FRITZ EMERGES FROM the penthouse dressing room wearing a green parka over a navy blazer and a crisp, pale blue shirt. He and this outfit have history – last September, Fritz opened the BOSS spring/summer 2025 runway show in Milan wearing it. It was the second time Fritz had walked a runway for BOSS, but the first time he’d opened a show for the brand. “I was nervous to open the show, because in the past, when I did it, I had people to follow so I could just match their pace and follow them and copy what they were doing, so it was much easier . . . But it was just like fast walking. It wasn’t too hard. I just really didn’t want to mess it up.”

Fritz joined BOSS as a global brand ambassador in March 2024, splitting from Nike, which he’d worn since 2016. “I'm inspired by the brand's values of living a self-determined life and 'being your own BOSS’,” Fritz said when the news was announced. Not only did BOSS, who now makes his on-court performance gear and off-court apparel, sign a tennis player who was fast ascending the rankings, but alongside Berrettini, the brand added another hunk to its portfolio of male athletes (when I asked a BOSS representative whether being hot was a prerequisite to becoming a BOSS athlete, they said, “No, of course not . . . but it doesn’t hurt”.) 

As the worlds of fashion and sport continue to cross-pollinate, with professional tennis a particularly sexy growth market for big luxury brands searching for culturally relevant ambassadors with global fan bases, Fritz seems well aware of – and interested in – the clout that comes with being style-adjacent. “It's more of what I want to get into, off the court, doing more shoots and modelling type stuff,” he tells me. “I think it’s very . . . ‘my brand’ kind of thing.” 

When I ask what he likes about doing photoshoots and modelling, he pauses and smiles before answering. 

“I don't know if I’d necessarily say I like doing all of the extra work, but it's definitely just part of my brand. Fashion is something I’ve always been into, and modelling is something I’ve enjoyed doing.”

“A big thing behind why I’ve been able to IMPROVE and get to where I’m AT is because I am extremely, extremely hard on myself. I expect a LOT”

In 2020, Fritz began dating his partner of almost five years, Morgan Riddle. The pair met on the membership-based dating app Raya, and moved in together shortly after. Riddle, who was born in Minnesota, was working as a media director at the time, while also pursuing a career as a fashion influencer and model. Her following skyrocketed when she began to post snippets of her life (and outfits) on tour with Fritz, and now, she is arguably just as famous as her partner (a few very online friends I told about this story recognised Fritz as ‘Morgan Riddle’s boyfriend’). While he admits Riddle, also 27, has “influenced some of [my] outfits and styles”, Fritz says his segue into fashion has been largely self-motivated, adding that the happiness they’ve found together off the court has allowed him to flourish on it. 

“It’s really nice to have someone who’s putting a lot of time and energy into just helping me,” he says of Riddle’s influence on his life. “It’s simple things, like getting on me about going to sleep at a certain time, so I don’t stay up all night playing video games, or trying to instil healthy habits, because I’m pretty good about taking care of my work when I’m in the gym or at the courts or in training. I think I do a great job at that myself, but then when it’s away from all that I can, uh, you know, I can sometimes be a little bit too lazy,” he half-chuckles. “It’s just having someone there to support me, trying to hold me accountable.” 

Riddle accompanies Fritz to the BOSS event at Maison Batard. She tells me he’s feeling confident about his Australian Open campaign; leading the US to victory at the 2025 United Cup alongside women’s world No. 3 Coco Gauff made for an especially smooth runway into the first Slam of the year. Riddle is also prepared for a busy couple of weeks. Having posted her first-ever tennis match GRWM (‘get ready with me’) TikTok at the 2022 Australian Open, she credits Australia’s early support (and “love of WAG culture”) as playing a big part in kick-starting her success. 

Taylor Fritz Esquire
Taylor wears all clothing by BOSS. Photography: Dean Podmore. Styling: Grant Pearce

2024 WAS THE best year of Fritz’s career. He made the quarter finals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and the final at both the US Open and the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. At both the US Open and the ATP Finals, he came up against the man he hasn’t been able to beat since that day at Indian Wells in 2021: Italy’s Sinner

The current top dog, Sinner is on a winning streak that not even allegations of using a prohibited substance seem able to derail (on January 11, it was announced that, after an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency, a hearing into allegations of doping against Sinner at the Court of Arbitration for Sport is set for April 16-17. He’s free to play until then). 

At the US Open, Sinner defeated Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. It was a tough loss for the American to swallow. It was his first Slam final, he was playing at home and a victory would have marked the first US Open and Slam win by an American man since Roddick in 2003. In the season-ending final in Turin, Fritz worked hard to stay with Sinner from the baseline, producing a much more competitive contest. “The level of the match we played at the tour final was so much higher than the level we played at the US Open final,” Fritz says, as we sit down on a pair of orange boucle couches, his Esquire photoshoot just wrapped. “I felt like improvements I made with my forehand allowed me to hang with him from the baseline a bit better, which I think is probably one of the hardest things anyone has to deal with when it comes to playing him.

“Ultimately, he out-served me, which is something that I feel like . . . if I want to beat him, I can't really let that happen. I need to be the one that’s getting more free points off the serve, if I want to win that matchup between us.”

Taylor Fritz Esquire
Taylor wears all clothing by BOSS. Photography: Dean Podmore. Styling: Grant Pearce

Earlier this month, on his podcast, Roddick praised the Californian’s all-round improvement and work ethic, before going on to call Sinner “the worst matchup for Taylor Fritz”. “I would completely disagree with that,” Fritz says when I put the comment to him. “I don’t think it’s a matchup thing. I think he’s just better than everybody else. Like, if he’s the worst possible matchup for me, then you might as well just say he’s the worst possible matchup for everybody else on tour. I mean, he lost like five times last year [Sinner’s record was 73-6 in 2024]. He’s just playing insane. So, I dunno if I’d fully agree with that. I don’t think it’s the matchup. I just think it’s how good he is.”

Currently between Fritz and Sinner is the second-ranked Alexander ‘Sascha’ Zverev and world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz. Fritz has played Alcaraz only twice, with the Spaniard victorious both times. “When Carlos is at his best, he’s the best. I think he’s the toughest person to play,” Fritz says. The Californian’s record is far better against Zverev; he’s beaten him seven of the 12 times they’ve met. “We’ve had some crazy matches,” he recalls. “Playing Sascha is a bit more straightforward than the other matches, because with him it’s very focused around both of our serves, so it’s always going to be a close match between us.” 

In the first round of the 2025 Australian Open, Fritz made light work of fellow American Jenson Brooksby, notching a straight-sets win that included a ‘bagelling’ in the second. Today, he’ll face Chilean Cristian Garín, the world no. 150. Fritz has won two of their previous three matches. 

“We're all very SELFISH people at the end of the day, playing TENNIS. We all want MORE”

Back in the penthouse, I ask Fritz if, given how far he’s come, he’s had a moment to stop and reflect on his success. He thinks for a moment. “I feel like the higher up you go, you always think, Oh, if I get to there, I’ll be so happy. Then you actually get there. But we’re all very selfish people at the end of the day, playing tennis. We all want more. And so I get to a certain point, and I want more.

“I think I have a pretty well-rounded game, so I don’t think there’s necessarily one single thing I need to put a tonne of time into . . . It’s about getting everything just a little bit better . . . A lot of it is having the belief that you can be the best, that you can win the big tournaments.” 

No one is doubting that Fritz possesses that belief – as a player, it’s one of his greatest superpowers. But just how far will it take him?

“I think the question is: when do I think I’ll be satisfied? That’s the thing, because I’ll say one thing and that thing will happen, and then it’ll change, and I actually won’t be satisfied. Last year I would’ve said, Oh, it’s finishing in the top five. Before that I would’ve said, Oh, it’s being in the top 10. But those things happen and I still want more.” 

What does he want now? “I’d say it’s winning a Slam. But if I win a Slam, I don’t know how I’m going to feel. I’d like to think I’m going to feel satisfied, but I feel like that could happen and then immediately . . . there will be something else.”  

Taylor Fritz Esquire
All clothing by BOSS. Photography: Dean Podmore. Styling: Grant Pearce

All clothing by BOSS. Taylor wears his own Rolex watch throughout. 

Editor in Chief: Christopher Riley
Words: Amy Campbell
Photography: Dean Podmore
Styling: Grant Pearce
Grooming: Ashleigh Carpenter
Head of Social: Arielle Katos
Art Direction: Cathryn Zhang
Photo Assistant: Nadeemy Betros
Digi Tech: Tom Tramonte

Taylor Fritz was shot on location at Melbourne Place, January 2025.