Yahoo News Taylor Fritz Is Learning How to Block Out the Noise
The week leading up to the U.S. Open is busier than normal for Taylor Fritz.
He rarely gets to a tournament a full week in advance, but he's in New York a full seven days before the Grand Slam kicks off, "just give myself a little extra time and get used to everything," he says. Fritz, 26, loves playing in front of the crowds in Flushing. "Obviously it's our home slam for the Americans, so it's a really special week," he tells T&C. "It definitely feels great to have that crowd support in the matches and the crowd cheering you on—it always helps. I feel like I'm always playing better in the U.S."
Tennis is having a pop culture moment 2024 thanks in no small part to Challengers, Luca Guadagnino's film starring Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O'Connor. Though Fritz hasn't seen it, he says, "I'd be very surprised if a lot of people didn't get into tennis and maybe start watching tennis because of the movie." Plus, the sport is broadly becoming more visible, with players like Fritz, Coco Gauff, Carlos Alcaraz, and others rising to recognizable fame well off the court.
Fritz, for example, has sought opportunities in the world of fashion. In March, he signed with BOSS, becoming a Global Brand Ambassador, and wearing their clothes on court. "The fashion off the court is something I've really been into," Fritz says, "as well as just having clothes on court that I feel like are fitting really nicely, stuff that I really enjoy wearing on the court. It's a company that's working very closely with me to make things the right way and how it feels good for me. It's been amazing so far."
He has "quite a bit" of input on what he's wearing on court. "I definitely get to give feedback and say, this feels good. I really like this material and stuff like that, which is great because it's something that I didn't really have the ability to do before."
Fans, he's noticed, are beginning to take a greater interest in players' style—just as the fashion industry is embracing tenniscore. "Tennis fashion has become a big thing," he says. "A lot of people like to do the tennis looks, and a lot of brands as well have gotten into that. It works because it's stuff that you can wear to play tennis and stuff that you can wear when you're not playing tennis, so it just works for everything. I definitely think that fashion in tennis is becoming bigger and bigger."
He's approached building his brand off-court in an intentional fashion, perhaps taking a cue from his influencer girlfriend, Morgan Riddle.
But his focus, of course, remains on the game. Fritz is currently the top-ranked American men's player, and comes into New York fresh off the Paris Olympics, where he and Tommy Paul won bronze in the men's doubles competition. Taking home a medal, he says, "meant a lot." He continues, "We were really disappointed when we lost the semifinals because we really thought that we had a good shot of winning the gold and that's what we wanted. But it meant a lot in that moment when we won [bronze] because at the very least we were being able to bring a medal back. It was my first Olympics, and my main goal was I really wanted to at least win a medal in one of the events I was playing."
His mentality going into the Olympics, he explains, was different than approaching a normal tournament. He rarely plays doubles, but in Paris, "there wasn't really a priority on anything in particular. I felt like it was whatever I can get a medal in or do the best in, it's all the same—a medal in mixed, a medal in doubles, a medal in singles."
The overall experience, he says, was one to remember. "It was just really cool to be able to represent the U.S. at the Olympics. The opening ceremony was one of the coolest things, being on the front of the boat—because of the fact that Coco was a flagbearer, it was U.S. tennis and U.S. basketball up front. It was really cool just being able to hang out with those guys and have the best seat for the opening ceremony." (The pouring rain, he acknowledges, "wasn't ideal.")
Gauff's role as flag bearer at the Olympics is perhaps a nod to the rising visibility of American tennis players. For the first time since 1996—before Fritz was even born—five American men and five American women are ranked in the Top 20 of the latest ATP and WTA singles rankings.
Heading into the Open, he is very mindful of the pressures placed on American players. It's taken a lot of time, he says, to be able to block out the noise and expectations.
"At the end of the day, you can't be thinking about the worst case scenario. You can't be thinking about bad things that could happen. You just have to go out and play. That's something I've learned—I've had times in the past where I'm very anxious and on the Grand Slam weeks and it's such an important week to perform, but then I've taken some losses and it's taught me to just go out there and just not care as much. Even though you care so much. It is tough to explain, but you have to care and then not care at the same time."
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