Entered in the late-September ATP 250 event in Seoul, South Korea, Fritz tested positive for COVID-19 as the tournament was about to start. He spent the subsequent week in full quarantine, cleared to fly out of Korea on the morning he was scheduled to play his first match in the prestigious ATP 500 Japan Open. Fritz went on to win the title to keep alive his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals, where he made the semifinals.
Fritz will go into the new year with a solid, hard-won foundation, a wealth of experience, and most of the technical and strategic boxes ticked.
Pam Shriver, a Tennis Channel and ESPN analyst, told me: “Taylor’s success didn’t come out of the blue as it did for, say, Emma Raducanu (who as a qualifier, won a Grand Slam event in just her second try). Taylor has gotten where he is through a lot of hard work, and a really nice progression.”
Fritz knows where he’s been and seems to have a handle on where he’s going. He said at the ATP Finals:
“It’s definitely not easy to be in the top 10, to accumulate all the points. There is, I guess, added stress to produce the consistent results that you need to stay in it. [But] I think I’ve proved that I belong in the top 10 and I belong here (in Turin). I just need to keep working hard.”
In other words, Fritz needs to stay prepared.