At this year’s US Open, Taylor Fritz will have the weight of much more than a tennis bag on his shoulders.
The 27-year-old is poised to be the next American male player to win a Grand Slam title, which would also make him the first to do so since Andy Roddick back in 2003.
Ending a drought in sports is never easy, especially with an entire nation counting on you. The California native has “home-court” (or rather, home country) advantage, along with an improbable run to the 2024 Open finals under his belt. The No. 12 ranked player at the time, he lost in straight sets to Jannik Sinner, the No. 1 ranked player.
As of this writing, Fritz is No. 4 in the world—a personal best—and expectations are sky-high. Still, he remains unfazed.
“Obviously, I'm there to try and win the tournament, but that's always how it is going into every tournament,” he says in an interview with Complex. “If I look too far ahead, it's never a good thing. All my best results have come when I'm taking it one match at a time.”
Fritz may be calm before the Open storm, but fans know how fiery he is on the court. A big-time serve and powerful baseline game are his calling cards, which he attributes to his obsessive preparation. A self-described “perfectionist,” Fritz gets furious (at himself) when he makes mistakes and works tirelessly to improve his craft.
“Right now, I'm not the best player in the world,” he admits. “Being delusional is good in a lot of situations as far as how confident you are. But I'm also real… To be on that level, it's got to be there every day, and I just have to keep getting better as I’ve been.”
Shop BOSS here.
Before embarking on his biggest tournament yet, we caught up with Fritz to discuss a number of items, including the pressure to close out a match, “feeling dangerous” on the court, the rappers that hype him up, and how his partnership with BOSS is the perfect fit.
The new BOSS campaign focuses on this idea of “Be the Next BOSS.” How do you interpret that concept in the context of your tennis career?
The way I always think of “Be the Next BOSS,” is it's about improving, getting better, working hard, just to be the next. It's something I can tell myself, I'm going to be the next guy to do this or that. It’s about having confidence in yourself and never settling for anything less than giving your absolute best effort.
You've been wearing BOSS on the court for over a year now, yes?
A year and a half actually.
Nice. How does the brand's performance gear compliment your game?
I've always felt like if I like the outfit that I'm wearing and it feels good on me, it also typically coincides with me playing well and having good results. There's definitely something to that. I always have clothes that are super well fit for me. There's a balance between making sure that it looks great on the court, there are different designs, it's never too crazy. It's very classy compared to a lot of the other tennis kits that you see sometimes that are super out there. We've worked really well with each other in terms of getting the material right, as well. It's always very breathable and in the really hot, humid conditions at the US Open, I feel like I have something that is good for [those].
Shifting gears to your career and to tennis: Growing up with parents who both played tennis professionally is a pretty unusual experience, I would imagine. How do you feel that shaped you and your approach to the game?
Obviously, I had a very good setup with parents that knew what they were doing. My dad coached me with my life. My mom also coached me and helped a lot. It's not easy having parents as coaches, but one thing my dad did that was great was he was very hard to, I'd say, impress or get a compliment out of. It really ingrained this perfectionist mindset in what I do. I always want more and I always think I can do better.
They played an amazing role in getting me here and also helping me make a lot of important decisions, which a parent that hasn't been down this road before wouldn’t really have any idea of what to tell you.
Shop BOSS here.
When you say decisions, what are you referring to?
Traveling for tournaments, playing some tournaments, not playing others. At what point to leave school to homeschool, playing other sports, when it was time to drop a sport, turning pro, stuff like that.
Ever since turning pro, you've steadily moved higher up in the rankings. Now you're No. 4 in the world. What do you attribute that consistent sustained improvement to?
I'd say it's just always looking for things that I can get better at. It’s been a very slow, progressive climb and I think that anytime I played people that are better than me over the years, it's been obvious for me what I need to improve on and what I need to do to get better.
I'm extremely analytical, and I break down tennis matches and my own game very well. A lot of times I lose matches, I know exactly why I lost. I know what needs to get better and I'm always kind of taking apart my own game and trying to understand what little things I can work on and improve that are going to continue to make me a better player. I think that's something I've done for a really long time on top of just all the fitness and movement and stuff I've done as well to also make me a better mover and faster on the court. That's also made a big difference.
Is there something in the last bunch of months that you feel like you've really honed in on or focused on specifically as far as improving your game?
Not so much. I'd say towards the end of last year I made some pretty big jumps with my forehand; handling pace to it, hitting it bigger. Like my average rally ball, being able to hit it bigger off of a bigger ball coming into me and still being able to control it, feel comfortable not missing. I think that was a big step I took towards the end of last year.
This year in general, I've been serving pretty well, probably better than I have in past years, but I guess week to week it can be different. I specifically spend more time working on it, and it’s been feeling good for me.
I've always found tennis so interesting, and I played a little bit of it growing up, from a mental standpoint. Because it really is just you out there. I’m curious, when do you feel the most pressure? Would you say it's before a match begins? Trying to hang on to a lead? Fighting to stay alive if you're down, let's say a set or two?
I'd say the most pressure for me is when you're in those winning positions kind of close to the end because I mean, you don't want to let the thoughts creep in of like, Wow, I should win. This would be a bit of a choke if you don't close this one out. In those situations where you're so close to the win, where you feel like you should win, the pressure's on you because you feel like you have it. That's probably the most pressure I feel in the court.
It's that kind of, I see the light at the end of the tunnel thing.
And what you need to do is not that hard, but it gets harder because of that light.
Also in tennis, being able to bounce back is so crucial. What is it that you do specifically between points to reset from a mental physical standpoint? Then also how about in between matches?
In between points it's quick. I try to quickly identify what went wrong that point. Maybe I missed a first ball that I shouldn't have missed. And that's easy. It's just like, Hey, I just made a mistake, I need to not do that. Or maybe we played a rally, I'll try to identify what shot in the rally lost me control of the point. But very quickly, a couple seconds while I'm walking to my towel, walking to the side, I try to break down the point in my head. What I need to improve on, what I could have done better, and then onto the next one.
In-between match days, I'm just trying to recover, work with my physio[therapist], a lot of work on the body. If I have an off day, it's a light day normally, kind of just fine tuning. I've obviously just played a match, I've played enough tennis, I know that I'm playing well. So the focus is on getting the body moving, making sure I'm feeling healthy, eating a ton. And the number one thing is getting a lot of sleep.
So when you're playing a match, would you say that you're at your best when you're thinking a lot about things? Or when you’re not thinking much at all?
It's a bit of both. When I'm playing my absolute best, when I'm in the middle of a point, when I have such a split second to think, the first thing that comes into my mind always seems like the right thing to do. I'm never questioning it or second guessing it. I see the shot and I know exactly what ball I want to hit off it. I know exactly what I want to do with it, and I never think about it. I never change my mind. Sometimes when I'm not playing my best or I'm really nervous, I start second guessing what I am going to do.
So if I'm strategically thinking very well in between points and then instinctively thinking really well during points, that’s when I'm playing my best for sure.
Shop BOSS here.
At Complex, we're big into music. When you're in the locker room preparing for a match, do you listen to music to hype yourself up? If so, what do you listen to?
It's weird. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. It's just kind of whatever I'm feeling at the time. In the gym, absolutely, I'm listening to music. I can't do a workout if I'm not cranking music. Usually, it's some sort of hip-hop, something that's going to get me pumped up. I like Central Cee a lot. There’s some Drake that I like. Lil Baby, Lil Uzi, Young Thug, stuff like that.
Are you more into Drake’s new music or his older stuff?
I'll play certain songs that have been around for quite a while. The oldest Drake song I probably have in my playlist is “Headlines.”
Something you've mentioned in the past is that you're harder on yourself than anyone ever could be. I feel the same way. I'm sure as soon as this interview is over, I'll wish I asked you a certain question that I forgot about. But for you, where do you think that quality of being so hard on yourself comes from
Growing up, my dad kind of instilled this mentality of you shouldn't be happy with average or mediocre. It's very easy to stunt your growth if you're settling for anything less than the best. For me, that makes the times where I'm playing great and I'm super happy with my game more rewarding because I expect a lot.
That’s also always pushing me to improve and get better. If you watch me practice, I'll miss balls and I'll cuss and I'll be like, God, that's so bad, or that is so awful. And I'll get very upset at mistakes I make. But the thing is, I don't think it's good to tell yourself that it's okay to make those mistakes. If you train really hard, then you will get better and improve. I think it's a big reason why I've been able to constantly get better and improve. I try to hold my level and my tennis to an extremely high standard. Having that confidence and that ego is a big reason why people that are very successful in anything are successful. I think you have to have a level of that to reach the top of anything.
A big thing for me is also kind of turning that off when I'm playing a match because I have to accept when I play a match, what I show up with on that day is what I have. I can't let myself get frustrated or upset. If I'm not playing my best, it is what it is, and I have to just compete.
Shop BOSS here.
How quickly do you know if it’s a good Taylor day or if it’s one where you don't have it in the way you want to?
I can definitely see the good days even before the match starts. You know that Baker Mayfield quote when he said, I woke up and I felt dangerous? When I have a really good warmup, I'll text my girlfriend, I'll tell my team that I’m feeling dangerous today.
Anytime I've ever said that before a match, I've always played lights out, and I can feel it with how the ball is coming off my racket. But then there are days where it's pretty average. I’ll go on the court and I'd say within the first couple of games in the match, I'll know how I'm feeling, how the shots are feeling, how risky I can be with my shots and feel like the ball's going to go in.
You've spoken about how important it is to be extremely confident in your abilities and to believe in yourself. Based on that, and rankings aside, do you feel like you're the best tennis player in the world right now?
No. Right now, I'm not the best player in the world. I think being delusional is good in a lot of situations as far as how confident you are. But I'm also real. I think Jannik [Sinner] and Carlos [Alcaraz] have shown that they're a level above everyone else. I think that I have the level and the game to beat anybody in the world on any given day. I'm not saying that it is impossible to ever beat those guys. It's very possible. I possess the level of game, but from a day-to-day, year-round [standpoint], they've proven and shown that they deserve to be called the two best. They're just a bit above everybody else.
What do you feel like you need to do to get on the level of those guys or even surpass them?
I think I need to get better at coming to net, moving forward. To be honest, if I get my ground strokes and my approach shots better, it'll make that a lot easier. So when I'm coming forward, the volleys aren't so tough and are easier to handle and put away. It’s much easier to improve the ground strokes and the approach shots to get easier volleys than it is to improve to a point where I'm hitting insane volleys. I just don't think that's my style or my game.
If I look at the statistics, first serve returns are somewhere that I also have room for improvement on. A lot of that is going to be about gym stuff, getting more explosive, first step, pushing off. And then I still think there's room for improvement in a lot of my things I already do well, but by small margins. The forehand, backhand, serve can all be a little bit better.
I could also get fitter to where I can play at my maximum level output for three-to-four hour matches. Go all out the entire time. I don't have to do that often because of the free points I get on my serve.
As I said, there are days where I feel like I can compete at that level, but to be on that level, it's got to be there every day, and I just have to keep getting better as I've been.
Shop BOSS here.
I've heard others share their expectations for you heading into the US Open, but I'm curious: What expectations do you have for yourself in the US Open?
I mean, I don't want to put anything crazy on it. Obviously, I'm there to try and win the tournament, but that's always how it is going into every tournament. If I look too far ahead, it's never a good thing. All my best results have come when I'm taking it one match at a time. I pay attention to who's in front of me, and I go one at a time. I just want to work through the draw, play solid throughout my first three-four rounds, and get myself into the tournament. Once you get yourself into the round of 16, quarter-finals, it starts to feel like you can see the light at the end. It's only a couple more matches, and I just want to get to that point in the tournament because that's when it gets exciting.
After last year's US Open final, in the post-match press conference, someone asked if you felt like your incredible run was a success or a failure. That made me reflect on my own career. I work in journalism. I think about success as supporting myself, talking to cool people such as yourself, writing stories that I find interesting. I'm curious in general, how do you define success on the tennis court?
I think that the answer to that has probably changed throughout my career. I would define success for any player as someone who makes a living playing the sport and has a successful career making a living. For me, what I define as successful is competing as hard as I can and feeling like I left it all on the court and played my best no matter what. If I feel like I played well and competed as hard as I can, I never feel bad about the result. I feel my worst and like not a success when I feel like I could have done more or could have played better.
Shop BOSS here.
Who would you say is in your Mount Rushmore of tennis players all time?
Okay, so I’ve got four then. I think it's actually pretty easy as of right now. I would just go Roger, Novak, Rafa, Sampras.
You’ve got the big three.
Yeah, the big three, and then probably the GOAT that came prior to those three GOATS.
If you had to pick one, what would you say is the defining moment of your career thus far? A tournament or match you’re super proud of.
A big turning point for me in my career would've been the end of 2021. The Indian Wells event.
Was that the one where you beat Nadal?
No, that was 2022. This one was, I lost in the semifinals, but it was also my first Masters semifinal. Before that, the way I was playing, I felt like I was almost going backwards for the last six months or so. I was at my lowest ranking I'd had in a while. I was playing horrendously.
Then I kind of just worked really hard that week and things on the court started clicking for the first time in a really, really long time. The confidence and the things that came together for me that week I was able to carry through the end of that year and then into the next year when I won Indian Wells and made top 10 [rankings]. That was kind of the turning point in my career to where I really started reaching a new level.
John Cena recently said that everything he does in wrestling is not nearly as nerve wracking as when he's doing some kind of photo shoot for a magazine. So I wanted to ask you, do you get more nervous walking the runway for BOSS or competing in a grand Slam?
Nothing could ever match up to the pressure that I'm feeling in certain moments on the court for sure. I'm a pretty laid back, chill person. I don't let myself get stressed out or worried about much.
Tennis is the only thing that I really care about to an extent to where it's going to stress me out that much. Nothing can come close to some of those really big, tight-pressure moments.