Taylor Fritz certainly hasn’t had the best start to 2025, but he can turn his season around at Indian Wells.
Fritz could play US Open mixed doubles later this year, but for now his focus is fully on Indian Wells 2025.
Carlos Alcaraz is the two-time Indian Wells defending champion, winning back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024.
He beat Daniil Medvedev in both finals, but Fritz overcame legendary figure Rafael Nadal to clinch the title in 2022.
In 2025, however, Fritz has struggled to find form, with his season beginning with an Australian Open third round exit.
Stevie Johnson highlights Taylor Fritz maturity ahead of Indian Wells
He followed that up with round of 16 and quarter-final exits at the Dallas Open and Delray Beach Open respectively.
But former professional Stevie Johnson is confident of a strong Fritz run at Indian Wells, saying on the Nothing Major podcast: “He had a bit of a stomach issue, some type of minor injury.
“But as we know when you have an oblique or something, it doesn’t heal the more you play. Fritz is somebody that, I think this is a good sign for him.
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“He is maturing, normally five years ago he would have just played until his body broke in half. He loves to play every week and he can compete with the best of them.
“But kudos to him. To have the growth to be like I am going to skip Delray, Acapulco and then pulled out of the Netlfix Slam which got cancelled for the men anyway, so kudos to him to take a break.
“He wants to win Indian Wells and he can’t do that at 80%. This next month has two Masters series, two 1000s in the States. He will be ready I assume.
“I haven’t seen him in the last couple of weeks, he’s been taking care of his business, getting healthy. He is somebody to look for fresh at Indian Wells to make a deep run in a tournament he has won.”
Taylor Fritz under pressure to produce American winner at Indian Wells
Fritz didn’t exactly take a break at Delray, but he may not be too upset at having fallen early amid his injury issues.
He now has a superb chance to really get his season going in at Indian Wells, which represents a home tournament for the California native.
Fritz has a bye into round two of the iconic ATP Masters 1000 event, with the American meeting either Sebastian Baez or a qualifier in round two.
He was the top seed at both Dallas and Delray, but is the Indian Wells third seed, behind Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz.
The pressure could, therefore, be off the world number three somewhat, although fans will be expecting American players to go very far.
They will be eager to see a home winner this time around, with the likes of Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek having dominated Indian Wells in recent times.
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