The age Taylor Fritz started playing tennis and what he did differently to other American players in practice

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Taylor Fritz has established himself as one of the biggest names in men’s tennis over the past few years.

There weren’t many players on the ATP Tour that had a better 2024 than the American, as he rose to a career-high of fourth in the world.

Fritz reached his first Grand Slam final at the US Open, beating Casper Ruud, Grigor Dimitrov, and Frances Tiafoe before coming up short against Jannik Sinner.

He then made a second big final of the year as Fritz lost in the ATP Finals final to Sinner, having already lost to the Italian earlier in the week.

Fritz also won two ATP titles during the year, at Delray Beach, and in Eastbourne, as he took his career tally to eight.

The 27-year-old is set for even better things in the new year, but ahead of the 2025 season one of Fritz’s former coaches has looked back upon his tennis development.

Taylor Fritz’s former coach, Guy Fritz says he started playing tennis at the age of two

Speaking in an interview with CoachLife, Taylor Fritz’s dad and junior coach, Guy Fritz revealed how old the American was when he first started playing tennis.

“I started [coaching] Taylor Fritz at two years old,” he said.

“A lot of people said that was too early, it was ok because we didn’t play that much.

“Get him introduced to it, get him seeing the ball.”

Fritz went on to explain how he managed to put the perfect structure in place to aid the development of the now world number four.

“We were very lucky, we had a court in our back yard,” he said.

“We were able to get good players around him.

“Some days he’s playing players that he can’t beat, some days he’s playing players that he can beat, so he learned how to work on his game, not always having to win.”

Fritz then began to play against several American players who have now joined him as mainstays on the ATP Tour.

“Then he worked a little bit with the USTA [United States Tennis Association], where he met people like Tommy Paul, Reilly Opelka, and Frances Tiafoe,” he said.

“He played all these guys and competed with them, that’s where you get better when you’re competing against these players.

“They just push the level up, they push each other.”

Fritz’s former coach went on to explain how he helped the US Open finalist stand out against his fellow American stars.

“When they go out on the court they’ve got to really concentrate, you can go out on the court for four hours and not really concentrate, but if you go for one hour and really concentrate, you’re going to get a lot more out of it,” he said.

“Taylor probably practiced a lot less than those top guys, but when he was on the court he was more focused and more intense, and that’s what I really like to stress.”

How does Taylor Fritz compare to the best American ATP stars?

Fritz is currently the number one ranked American player on the ATP Tour, but how does he truly compare to his fellow countrymen?

The 27-year-old is the only top-ten star from the USA, and the only active player to have reached a Grand Slam final.

Fritz holds a positive head-to-head record against every top 50 American player, apart from Alex Michelsen, whom he has only played once.

The youngster shocked the world number four in Geneva last year, as he booked his place in the quarter-finals with a win over his fellow American.

Other than a slip-up against Michelsen, Fritz has had a good time of things against the rest of the American stars on the ATP Tour, proving his class on several occasions.

Fritz reached his first Australian Open quarter-final last year and will be hoping to go even further this time as the tournament gets underway on January 12.