Tommy Paul says who was the best as a junior out of Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka and who was the worst ‘by a lot’

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Tommy Paul named some of his fellow American players and stated who was the best player as a junior.

The 27-year-old is part of what is a successful period of American tennis, for both the men and women.

There are currently five male players from the United States ranked inside the top 25, and four women ranked inside the WTA Tour’s top 10.

Paul is one of two American men sitting inside the ATP Tour’s top 10, and he is currently at a career-high ranking of number nine.

Tommy Paul names the American player who was the best as a junior

Tommy Paul has come on leaps and bounds from his junior days to reach the ATP’s top 10.

He has a Grand Slam semi-final to his name and is playing with far more consistency than during the early stages of his career.

Throughout his junior years, Paul played alongside compatriots Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka who are separated by one or two years in age.

Paul appeared on the Nothing Major podcast with some of his compatriots and gave his opinion on who the best worst players were as juniors from the four aforementioned players.

“Fritz was the worst. By a lot. He is the best out of us [now]. Fritz, me and Reilly were 97’s but Frances was 98,” Paul said.

“Years now don’t make a difference but when you were 13 and 14 or 15 they made a huge difference and Frances was probably better than us a year younger than us. He was the guy.

“Everyone knew how much talent he had. His strokes were all busted and he was still busting our a****. I remember the first time Fritz came to the USTA and he had never played on clay, I am pretty sure.

“They put him on the treadmill and he was going like seven on the treadmill and he tripped over his own feet and was hanging on. We were like, ‘What is this guy doing?’”

What is Tommy Paul’s head-to-head record against Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, nd Reilly Opelka?

Paul played Opelka for the first time at the Dallas Open on February 8, and Paul won 7-6(3), 6-2.

He faced Fritz on five occasions and with the rivalry locked at two wins apiece, Fritz defeated Paul 6-2 6-3 to win the 2024 Delray Beach title.

Paul and Tiafoe have gone head-to-head on four occasions throughout their careers, two of which have come at Delray Beach.

Tiafoe won the first of those encounters in 2020, but Paul gained some revenge from the 2024 match, and he also won their other two encounters in Adelaide and Stockholm.