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Taylor Fritz has candidly revisited his decision to replace father Guy as his coach. At the time, Fritz was only 17, but in the long run, the decision worked out well for the American. Today, he has firmly established himself in the top 10 of the ATP Tour's singles rankings.
Fritz, currently participating at the Lexus Eastbourne Open, recently sat down for an interview with The Guardian. Here, the 27-year-old cast his mind back to when he was 17, along with his decision to move on from his father Guy to a new coach. According to Fritz, he took the call to work with someone possessing more ATP Tour-level coaching experience.
"He wanted to coach me all the way through, but I needed someone that had been on tour," the ATP No. 5 told The Guardian.
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Taylor Fritz also claimed that his father's conventional coaching methods lack the 'organization' needed for players to practice well in contemporary tennis.
"My dad’s pretty old-fashioned. He’ll just show up at the courts and ask people to practise at that time. It’s not the most organised and it’s also hard to have that coach/father relationship," he added.
Fritz's father Guy was a professional tennis player as well, but couldn't hit the heights that his son has done. In singles, Guy reached a career-high ranking of 301, while in doubles, his highest ranking was 219.
"My father's not someone who's going to lie to make me feel good" - Taylor Fritz
According to Taylor Fritz in the same interview, his father Guy has never been upset with him, even after defeats. Despite this, Fritz claimed that his father is also an honest and hard-to-please person who doesn't shy away from speaking uncomfortable truths.
"He was never one of those parents that would be upset if I lost. He’d say: ‘Don’t worry. In a couple of years you’ll be so much better than that guy.’ But he’s also the one person I can always trust to keep it real. He’ll tell me if it’s bad. And if he tells me that it’s good then it’s really good, because it’s tough to get a compliment. He’s not someone who’s going to lie to make me feel good," Fritz said.
On the tennis front, Taylor Fritz's latest competitive outing, a second-round clash against teenage prodigy Joao Fonseca at the Lexus Eastbourne Open, was suspended due to darkness after two sets of play. Fritz won the first 6-3, but Fonseca squared things up by clinching the second 7-6(5). The match is set to resume on Thursday, June 26.
