Taylor Fritz is a rare breed in the world of tennis. By the age of 20 he has already broken the top-100 and claimed a junior grand slam title at the 2015 US Open. The achievements of the American is particularly impressive considering he is also a husband and a father.
Welcoming the birth of his first child in January, Fritz is now tasked with juggling fatherhood and his aspirations in tennis at such a young age. It is a daunting prospect for an athlete at any age, but the former world No.1 junior isn’t planning on changing his training regime anytime soon.
“Nothing’s really changed at all for me. My wife’s been handling everything.” Said Fritz. “She handles all of the off-court stuff so I can be on court more than I was before.”
“I wake up at 7:00. I get breakfast. I drive to Carson where I train. I practice about two-and-a-half hours, get lunch, practice another two hours, go to the gym. Some days I go to physical therapy to get some work done, and then I’ll be home at, like, 9:00 at night and I go to sleep.”
Fritz’s determination to continue applying himself fully to his tennis career has been one supported by his wife, Raquel Pedraza, who he married in July 2016. Proudly stating that his wife has ‘stepped up’ since the birth of their child, Fritz’s circumstances are somewhat different to other rising stars in the men’s game. It is also understandable to expect the American to be spending less time on the court than his rivals, although he has fiercely denied this.
“I feel like everything is the way it was before with all the other guys that are my age.” The world No.136 admitted. ”People can think I’m spending less time on the tennis court and less time in the gym, and that’s perfectly fine, because I’m sure that will come back to get them if they’re underestimating the training and the work that I’m putting in.”
Troubled by a knee injury during the second half of 2016, the American has made some encouraging progress on the tour this season. His stand out run of the year so far occurred at the Dallas Challenger, where he lost to Ryan Harrison in the final.
Playing amongst the world’s elite at this week’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Fritz has got off to a winning start with a straight sets triumph over Benoit Paire. His reward is a second round showdown with former US Open champion Marin Cilic.
“We do have similar-type games, we’re both pretty serve-dependent. I’d say we are both pretty solid off of both sides and play aggressive baseline tennis.” Fritz said about playing Cilic.
So I will be focusing on the key parts of my game which is the serve and just staying aggressive, attacking, but not giving him too many free points.”
Fritz will play Cilic on Sunday. He is yet to progress beyond the second round at any Masters 1000 event.
