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‘You Gotta Beat the Guy’ – 28 Years After Training Venus and Serena Williams, Childhood Coach Places His Bets on the Next Big Thing in American Tennis

Published 04/24/2023, 7:11 AM EDT

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Taylor Fritz, the 25-year-old American tennis player, has slowly but surely begun to become the flagbearer of American tennis, especially on the ATP Tour. And as he climbs the proverbial ladder, Venus and Serena Williams’ former coach, Rick Macci, who trained them nearly 28 years ago, reckons that the current top-ranked American player could be the next big thing in the sport.

Every tournament in which he has competed so far, Fritz has performed admirably and advanced to the latter stages, such as the quarterfinal or semifinal. That is a massive achievement in itself. Not only that, he has constantly worked on honing his skills and is giving tough competition to some of the biggest stars on the Tour.

Serena Williams’ childhood coach shows confidence in Taylor Fritz’s abilities 

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The 68-year-old American tennis coach recently uploaded a video on his YouTube channel. In it, he discussed the tenth-ranked tennis player in the world with clarity and expressed his opinion that he is a rock-solid talent who will be around for a while. Along with that, he also spoke about the day he first met Fritz at the USTA when he was just 12 or 13 years old and how he had witnessed him rise up on the court.

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He said, “He’s not going away as a competitor, and that’s what I like. But he can grab a grand slammers too; there’s no doubt about it he’s in the mix; you gotta beat the guy; that’s what I like; he’s not really going to beat himself, so as a competitor, he’s here to stay; it’s great for American tennis. Fritz is going to be one of the guys representing this country for a long time.” 

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He further elaborated on how his serve and overall gameplay had improved. Additionally, he also expressed his appreciation at witnessing an American ATP tennis player rank in the top 10 after many years. But did you know that not only did he break a record and join the top 10, but he also broke into the top 5 a few months ago?

Taylor Fritz joined Andy Roddick in securing prestigious record

The 25-year-old tennis player moved up to the fifth rank from seventh following his recent triumph at the Delray Open. In the process, he became the only ATP player from the US to reach the top 5 in the ATP rankings since 2009 as a result of the dramatic shift in the rankings. Previously, Andy Roddick reached that position in 2009.

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Do you think Taylor Fritz has the potential to challenge the biggest stars on the ATP Tour and win a Grand Slam title? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by:

Pratishtha Prakash

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Pratishtha Prakash is a Tennis writer at EssentiallySports. She has completed her Bachelor’s degree in Mass Media and Journalism from MIT ADT University, Pune. Being a sports enthusiast, she has been following varied sports like tennis, cricket and Esports from her childhood.
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Edited by:

Tony Thomas