“It’s an honour to be the top American” – Fritz happy but wants to go higher

Taylor Fritz says he feels honoured to be the top-ranked American male player in the world but he knows that he needs to continue working harder to stay in front of those who are chasing him.

Fritz is ranked ninth in the world, one spot higher than countryman Frances Tiafoe, with five other American men inside the top 50.

The 25-year-old needed five sets to beat Yannick Hanfmann in a rain-delayed match and advance to the second round at Wimbledon on Wednesday and later spoke about being the top player from his country.

“It’s an honour to be the top American. It’s something that I would have been extremely pumped about if you told me a long time ago, told me when I was young, then I probably wouldn’t have believed it either,” Fritz said in his press conference. “So it’s awesome. It’s great. Obviously, I want to take it further, and be higher ranked. We also have a lot of very good American players that are chasing me and trying to take the spot away from me. So, I just have to keep competing, keep performing well.”

Fritz, who also goes by the nickname Hotshot and will play the UTS event in Los Angeles later this month, said he wants to take it one match at a time at Wimbledon this year.

“For this year’s Wimbledon, I just want to take it one match at a time. Obviously, I made it to the quarter-finals last year, so I know for sure that I’m capable of doing that. I’d love to get to that point and then see how much further I can go from there. But, you know, no specific round or anything I have in mind. I just want to take it one match at a time,” he said.

Fritz is back on the courts of the All England Club on Thursday where he is scheduled to meet Sweden’s Mikael Ymer.

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