Riley Smoller

IT’S 7:30 in the morning at Los Angeles’ Chateau Marmont. The hotel’s famous gothic-nouveau facade is still shaded; the sun hasn’t yet risen high enough above Hollywood to brighten its alabaster balconies and broad-striped awnings. The table between the entrance’s green velvet settees has a straggler champagne glass from the night before–it’s the kind of place that doesn’t shy away from its spirited decadence, and where, perhaps more than any other hotel in the world, stars are extolled, mythologized, and sometimes even dismantled. In the morning quietude, a matte black Tesla has silently pulled up the driveway. Taylor Fritz steps out. A lithe six-foot-five, he is Southern California-handsome—longish hair, big smile, tanned skin—and he looks very much like someone who could be famous. That is to say: he fits the scene.

Setting notwithstanding, his starry vibe can be attributed, first and foremost, to his damn good tennis game. Twenty-five-year-old Fritz is currently ranked ninth on the ATP Tour (global men’s tennis’ preeminent governing body), though his all-time best position is fifth, which he achieved this past February. For U.S.-born players, he is the highest ranked at present–a leading position amongst a stacked field of ascendant talents and ATP standings, with names including Frances Tiafoe (10), Tommy Paul (14), Christopher Eubanks (30) and Sebastian Korda (33) not far behind. What propelled Fritz to this threshold is a naturally athletic yet acutely developed baseline skillset, which he uses to generate deep, fast groundstrokes, a lethal serve (which he says is his best shot, generally, without giving away his “very specific” fortes), and a hell of a lot of court coverage thanks to his height.

Riley Smoller

Fritz’s biggest triumph to date was the stuff of narrative–even borderline cinematic–dreams: In March, 2022, he won the 1000-level BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells–arguably the highest-profile event outside of the Grand Slams–in the California desert, just about 100 miles from the town of Rancho Santa Fe, where he grew up. For all intents and purposes, the summit is his hometown tourney. And, to take it, he needed to beat the formidable Rafael Nadal in the finals. Fighting through an ankle injury, Fritz ended Nadal’s then 20-match winning streak over a close two sets beneath the expansive highlands sky and an electrified Californian crowd, roaring as their golden boy hit thudding groundstroke after groundstroke, drilling the Spaniard down–and reaching new heights in doing so.

“That day is my best tennis memory,” says Fritz while sitting poolside at the Chateau as the morning sun, now climbing, cleaves the languid palms and heats the space’s baked red bricks. He pauses and kind of gives a half-shoulder shrug: “And, I mean, it might always be. I always thought, When you run into Nadal, or [Roger] Federer, [Novak] Djokovic, or [Andy] Murray, you’re in trouble. We’ve just been waiting for them to move out of the way.”

He smiles in the retrospective moment. “Now, we have this next wave coming in, and it’s motivating. “But,” he concedes, “there’s Alcaraz. I think Alcaraz is going to be the main person that’s stopping us from winning Slams.” (Alcaraz, the 20-year-old Spaniard and current world number 1, already has a U.S. Open and Wimbledon under his belt.)

Fritz might have been predestined for the sporting limelight. He was brought up in an athletic family: Fritz’s mother, Kathy May, was a professional tennis player who reached the number 10 spot in the world in 1977. His father, Guy, also competed professionally. Fritz’s first rackets recollection was “playing mini-tennis with my Dad’s college friends. He always had players at our house, on our court. I was too little to do anything except stand really close to the net.”

He’d play in high school (winning a California Interscholastic Federation championship along the way), and would grind his way to eventually becoming the best junior men’s player in the world. In 2015 at the age of 17, Fritz won the junior U.S. Open. He entered the ATP Tour later that year.

To date, Fritz has 6 ATP singles titles to his name, accruing two this year in Atlanta and Delray Beach. In addition to these and Indian Wells, he’s clinched victories in Tokyo (just days after recovering from COVID, during which he was quarantined in Seoul–“it was super bad,” he says) and in England’s Eastbourne, twice.

Nick Remsen

Over the 2023 season, Fritz has had ups and downs. He won the aforementioned Delray Beach Open in February, beating the Serbian player Miomir Kecmanovic in three sets. With his Atlanta win in July, he took down Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic. At the United Cup, a new mixed-gender team tournament with representatives from 18 countries, Fritz helped the U.S. secure first place by beating the Italian Matteo Berrettini in January.

Riley Smoller

Yet at this year’s Slams, his results haven’t been as strong. He reached the third round at the French, but saw early exits in the second rounds at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon. (His best ever Slam result was the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2022.) Going into the U.S. Open, he’s reflecting on the past few month’s ebbs and flows.

“It’s a long year,” he says. “It’s not always easy to be tuned into the correct mindset. I’m just trying my best to show up every day, and set myself up for the big weeks. Last year, I had some big results, but this year, I’ve gone deeper consistently, even if I haven’t won as many.”

With the depth of the field, though, there’s nothing theoretically stopping Fritz from beating anybody in contention. When he’s on and playing at his maximum level, Fritz says the key is “always knowing exactly what shot to hit.”

In this respect–in the fractions of seconds during which players must choose what to do–Fritz’s capabilities shine when there’s full conviction. Some players say they do best when they’re almost not thinking about the point–when they can remove the stakes and the pressure and just slip into the physicality of it. That’s not so for Fritz. “My best results are when there’s no indecision.”

Fritz runs for a dropshot against Lorenzo Sonego of Italy during the Western & Southern Open on August 16 in Mason, Ohio. | Matthew Stockman / Getty Images

Another notable thing about the Californian is that he’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers–and to voice his opinion along the way. In moments of frustration, he can be seen talking to himself, scolding himself, or rolling his eyes at his player’s box. He can sulk, but he doesn’t smash or throw his racket, as some are wont to do.

At the 2023 French Open–the Slam also known as Roland-Garros–Fritz was playing and beating the Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech in the second round. Unhappy with one of their own losing, the crowd rained down boos and jeers on Fritz. After Rinderknech’s final shot sailed long, the boos peaked, and Fritz held his finger to his mouth to shush the stands. It was intense (crowds often pick sides, but this felt harsher–even after Fritz won and was giving his on-court interview, the audience still disapproved.) That kind of interaction would rattle many players. Later, he tweeted a sole emoji of the shushing face. But, he saw that feedback from the pseudo-incident was mostly supportive.

“I couldn’t believe how well received what I did was, afterwards,” says Fritz. “It was a majority positive reaction. I’m calm, usually, so if I am going to do something like that, you really have to push me. The booing motivated me to win the match. But if I am going to get shit for hours straight, I thought I was totally within my boundaries to do that after the match.”

Nick Remsen

Fritz, like many public figures, has found that social media, namely X, formerly known as Twitter, can be polarizing. He’s OK with posting a “tennis opinion,” such as, for example, a statement on a controversial hindrance call made against Novak Djokovic when the Serbian was playing the Italian Jannik Sinner at this year’s Wimbledon. “I tweeted my opinion about hindrance
 because [it] probably needs to be called more. I’ve been telling umpires they need to call it more.” (Fritz clarified in the post that he was not speaking about Djokovic specifically, more so “some players.”)

“When I tweet an opinion, it always gets way more numbers than any other post,” he continues. “I think expressing opinion is good for tennis.” He’s not wrong on that front: Status quo isn’t going to attract and retain new eyes, nor will it necessarily satiate long term fans. While Fritz doesn’t have the pyrotechnic temper of a Nick Kyrgios (a player known for headline-making antics) nor the political friction of a Djokovic (who, for a time, was banned from certain competitions because he chose not to receive vaccination for COVID-19), he’s proven he’s not one to fly quietly under the disposition radar.


“When I tweet an opinion, it always gets way more numbers than any other post. I think expressing opinion is good for tennis.”


Speaking of that: Fritz has also taken on something of an expanded celebrity appeal of late. He, along with his girlfriend Morgan Riddle, has become a fan favorite on Netflix’s hit show Break Point.

The slick streaming docu-series is from the same producers as the Formula 1-centric Drive to Survive, which many credit with catapulting that sport to new heights amongst American audiences. While Break Point doesn’t have quite the pull and insular drama of Drive to Survive–and while tennis had substantial U.S. popularity that predated the show–it has increased viewership with those that may only have a passing interest in the sport.

“There’s a difference,” says Fritz of the show’s effect on his public persona. “It’s not all the time, but I’ve been out and someone has recognised me, and I’ll tell my friends, ‘this normally doesn’t happen.’”

Netflix has invested significantly in the vehicle; production crews follow the pros, both women and men, across the globe and into the highs, heartbreaks and granular hollows of touring life (gym sessions, cool downs, boring hotel room service meals, endless flights). The series has been renewed for a second season, with filming nearing completion.

Being a breakout personality from season one, Fritz is rumoured to be appearing in season two, too–and he recognises that the show functions in such a way that it glossily attracts those outside of tennis’ core fandom. Moths to a pop-culture tennis flame, if you will. “They have to put pieces together to make an entertaining story,” he says.

Away from the floodlights, grandstands and cameras, Fritz resides between Los Angeles and Miami. He tries to spend more time in the former, where his 6-year-old son Jordan lives.

On fatherhood, Fritz says: “I love it. It has been amazing to see him grow up. We’re getting to a fun age, where he can communicate really well and it’s just
 it’s rewarding. I would love if he could come on the road with me at some point, but that’s not the situation right now. He doesn’t watch a lot of TV, but what he does watch is sports. I think he’s very interested in getting into tennis, but I would never push him into it. He’s similar to me in that he just wants to play sports–no matter which one.” Fritz adds then, if he hadn’t become a pro tennis player, he’d want to be “an athlete of any kind. Probably baseball, followed by basketball, followed by lacrosse.”

Another pastime–one that helps him unwind, but also to sharpen his vying nature–is video games. Fritz decompresses on tour by “playing for 30 minutes, maybe an hour, before going to sleep. And I sleep really well,” then adding he appreciates the “competitive aspect” of gaming. Additionally, he’s found that the hobby has a gratifying networking element.

Nick Remsen

“It is a cool way to connect with people. I throw up a link on Twitter or Instagram, and it’s nice because [with people coming in from those audiences] I get to interact with fans.” Don’t, however, expect a YouTube channel or regular Twitch appearances: “I’ve occasionally streamed on Twitch. But, it would be impossible to have a consistent schedule with everything that goes on in tennis. Recording everything, chopping it up, editing. That’s too much.”

With that, Fritz slides into some fresh fits to pose for photos. He’s pretty easygoing in front of the lens–perhaps as a byproduct of his Netflix confessionals. The Chateau’s bare-bones 1930’s swimming area makes for a picturesque backdrop–in fact, the following day, the model Daria Werbowy would pose on the exact same bricks for Gucci’s first campaign under its new creative director, Sabato De Sarno.

Fritz settles into a wicker chair, framed by an aqua-blue and white-striped picket fence, easy-mannered in the daybreak. The poses are natural. The shoot is quick. It’s as clear as the now cloudless morning: Fritz is a tennis elite, with plenty of star power, too.

This story originally appeared on Esquire US

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