Today, we’re going to focus on Taylor Fritz. At still only 25, he’s top 10 in the world and the 2022 champion at Indian Wells. He’s the top-ranked U.S. men’s player as-of this writing at number 9 with Frances Tiafoe (10) and Tommy Paul (14) right on his heels. Over the rest of this breakdown, I’m going to show you that Taylor has so much more to go. His ceiling is incredibly high. Why? He’s reached his current heights with only a few top tier areas in his game. When the rest of his game catches up, watch out! Let’s get started with Player Breakdown – Taylor Fritz.
Forehand
Top 5 – Taylor’s forehand separates him from the pack. He generates outstanding pace and spin while remaining compact. This allows Taylor to be consistent and avoid the pitfalls of a larger, often wilder stroke. He hits it well crosscourt and down the line. He can hit it on the run. This is Taylor’s strongest weapon and it has a chance to be the game’s best.
Backhand
Top 10 – Taylor’s backhand is the second near elite skill pushing him to the top of the game. Although I wouldn’t say top 5, top 10 is nothing to scoff at. Taylor’s backhand is rock solid. He can hit it for winners. He can effectively compete in any backhand to backhand rally. I just wouldn’t quite put it in the class of Djokovic or top 5 in the game just yet.
Serve
Top 25 – “Say it ain’t so, Joe!”, “You really don’t think Taylor’s serve is at least top 10?” I know. He’s got an effective and at times dominant serve, but not top 10. Here’s why. Serving is a bit more layered than the other strokes and you have to look at the entirety for this ranking. The top 5 has to go to the “giant” servers who are so good that you expect each set to go to a tiebreaker. They take the racket out of your hands (think Isner, Kyrgios, or Raonic in top form). These servers can have second serves as good as many first serves. No one would argue Fritz is that kind of server. So then why not top 10 instead of top 25?
I’m judging on ability to serve in clutch moments and second serve. The top servers have an ability to hit the big serve in the big moment. If you go back in history, think of McEnroe, think of Becker, think of Sampras, of course Federer, their careers are filled with “how’d he do that?” moments where they wiggled out of love-40 games or came through with huge serves when it counted. This article is focusing on the men’s side, but you can’t have this discussion without including Serena as elite and unbelievable at using her serve to dig out of trouble. From a second serve standpoint, that also has to be considered. Does Fritz have an elite second serve or kick serve?
I love Taylor’s serve. He’s just got room to grow. I also like that he focuses more on placement than blasting in the 130s every serve. It’s a weapon that’s critical to his success to-date, but not top 10 yet.
Movement
Top 100 – At 6’5″, most at that size aren’t elite movers. No one is going to compare Taylor’s movement to Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, Alcarez, or even De Minaur. I’d say Tiafoe and Paul are better movers. For big men, Medvedev edges Taylor. With that said, improved movement is THE reason Taylor has reached the top 10. He may never be elite in this area. It may not matter. He’s gotten it to a point where it’s solid, definitely not a liability.
Mental Toughness
Top 10 – You can’t win an Indian Wells and rise to top 5 in the world without showing the mental toughness needed to reach top tier. Taylor’s right there. The Nadal Indian Wells final snapped a 20 match win streak for Nadal and even though Nadal was injured, the mental fortitude to overcome Nadal fell squarely on Taylor’s shoulders. Nadal wasn’t going away easily. He had to be defeated.
Let’s pause and highlight the main point of this portion of Player Breakdown – Taylor Fritz: Forehand, backhand, serve, and improved movement along with mental toughness are the areas of Taylor’s game that have driven his success to-date. Two of these areas (serve and movement) aren’t even top 10 skills, yet he’s a top 10 player. Now let’s look at the rest of his game.
Net Play
Top 100 – If you include volleys, overheads, and the transition from back court to the net, there’s nothing in Taylor’s game that rises above top 100. I’d say especially his transition game is below average. He looks uncomfortable approaching the net compared to true net-first minded players. He’s not a proficient serve-and-volley player. He doesn’t have a great chip approach or for that matter, any great approach.
Drop Shots
Top 100 – It’s not that Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer didn’t use the drop shot. Federer is legendary all-court. It’s just that Alcarez seems to have taken it to a new level in terms of using it to end points quickly or change the dynamic of the point to move it towards a cat and mouse net dual. Fritz would do well to add more of this to his game. It looks like he’s working on it. It gives him another option besides blasting groundstrokes through his opponent.
Cat and Mouse
Top 100 – If you didn’t pick it up from the Drop Shots section, cat and mouse is that back and forth at the net. It often follows a drop shot and it requires deft touch, angle, and sometimes a lob to outwit your opponent. Nothing elite here for Taylor yet.
Improvisation
Top 100 – I see improvisation as the ability to make something out of nothing and to come up with an answer in non typical point situations. It involves creativity and skills beyond your normal forehand, backhand, volleys. It’s that fully stretched lunging stab volley, that squash on the run forehand, that flicked wrist around the net post backhand releasing to one-hand. Anyone think Taylor elite here?
Return of Serve
Top 100 – Don’t get me started on return of serve. Is Djokovic the only player to have figured out the return of serve? Everyone else seems to be a train wreck of inability to get the first serve return in play consistently enough or overbaking second serve returns and giving away points. This rant wasn’t so much about Taylor. He’s fine, in the pack, maybe slightly better than most.
Conclusion
Ok, I think you’re beginning to see my point. Taylor is an amazing and well-deserving top 10 player. He’s been carried thus far by top tier forehands and backhands and an elite package of skills that includes his serve, mental toughness, and improved movement. Credit Taylor and his coaching for recognizing and developing the combination that was most important to bring Taylor this far. Each skill in the package may not be elite, but as a whole, the package is a deserving top 10.
When you look at the rest of his game, none of it is elite. That’s not a criticism. It’s an exciting opportunity. Net play, drop shots, cat and mouse are all areas that can and will improve. His serve will still improve. Djokovic and Nadal rounded out their games over the course of their careers as much as anyone. Dare I say that Djokovic early in his career had a weak second serve and a suspect forehand? Now, just try to dent his armor. Nadal became an outstanding net player and drastically improved his backhand. Even Federer, who arguably was more all-court developed at an earlier point in his career, brought his backhand to a new level in his 30s to compete with Nadal.
Taylor has an exciting road ahead of him. He’s good enough now to compete for the top titles and in parallel has the time to develop in other areas to push towards the next level. Will he get there? No one knows. Truly, the sky is the limit for Taylor.
Well, that concludes this Player Breakdown – Taylor Fritz. I hope you enjoyed it. What do you think? Let’s talk tennis! Stay up-to-date with our Live Scores and ATP and WTA news. Thanks for reading!