Taylor Fritz
This year American teenager Taylor Fritz has excelled on both the junior and pro circuits. Currently ranked No.1 in the junior rankings, Fritz claimed the US Open boys’ title after defeating countryman Tommy Paul in the final. Shortly after his triumph at the US Open, the 18-year-old made headlines after claiming back-to-back Challenger titles.
His double triumph in Sacramento and Fairfield elevated him up the rankings. At the Fairfield Challenger Fritz defeated four seeded players to clinch the title. He stunned top seed Tim Smyczek in the second round followed by Blaz Kavcic (6), Blaz Rola (4) and Dustin Brown (3) in the final. After grabbing his second challenger title, the American became the seventh active player on the tour to win multiple Challenger titles under the age of 18. The other six active players are Richard Gasquet, Juan Martin Del Potro, Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych, Rafael Nadal and Bernard Tomic. In his last tournament of the year the 18-year-old was runner-up at the ATP Champaign Challenger.
His performance this year has certainly placed Fritz on course for a strong 2016 and potentially a big future in tennis. Some are saying that he could be the player to end America’s absence of Grand Slam winners on the men’s tour, however, Fritz isn’t concerned about this.
“I’m not playing tennis so I can help the U.S. out of the big Grand Slam drought,” Fritz told Sports Illustrated.
“I’m not playing it for any reason other than myself.”
The first tournament of 2016 for Fritz will be the City of Onkaparinga ATP Challenger in Australia. He will be one of 16 top 200 players participating in the event which gets underway on January 4th.
