This crop of young American male tennis players has been on the rise, and Taylor Fritz has soared higher than the rest.
All the way into a Grand Slam final.
Fritz fought his way into Sunday’s U.S. Open final against world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, becoming the first American man to make a major final since 2009.
Now he wants to be the first in 21 years to win one.
“I wanted it. I wanted to be the guy. That’s what all of us want to be. I wouldn’t say I felt like I was entitled to it. I just really wanted [it],” Fritz said. “I’ve been the highest-ranked for a while, I was able to win Indian Wells, then I was the only one that didn’t have a Slam semifinal. So I really wanted that. … I just really wanted to have success at Slams and to get to this point. It’s just a great feeling to be here.”
Fritz, who exudes a laid-back California cool, is the son of tennis pros Guy Fritz and Kathy May, the latter a former top-10 player and two-time quarterfinalist here.
Now Fritz has gone to another level.
“Taylor’s a great kid and a great player,” John McEnroe told The Post, calling him “one of the best ball-strikers I’ve seen in the last 10 years.”
Fritz has struck his way into the finals in Flushing — and is leading a crop of five American men in the top 20 for the first time since 1997.
Fritz came into the U.S Open ranked No. 12, followed by Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda and Frances Tiafoe, whom he beat in a highly-anticipated semi.
Highly enough that Fritz is convinced Sunday will be less pressure-packed.
“It’s different playing the world No. 1 who you’re probably not going to be the favorite against,” Fritz said. “But I’ve always played well against Jannik. We’re 1-1.
“He hits the ball big, he’s a very strong ball-striker, but I feel like I always hit the ball really nice off of his ball. I typically play well against him.”
Well enough. Fritz won their first meeting at Indian Wells in 2021, then dropped their rematch there last year.
Still, he left an impression on the world No. 1.
“Big serve. Very solid player from the back of the court. He can hit strong, can hit with rotation, can mix up the game well. He’s played a lot this year, so he has a lot of rhythm,” Sinner said. “So it’s going to be a tough match.”
It’s a match that was almost impossible to foresee years ago.
Fritz, 26, is something of a late bloomer by tennis standards.
A decade ago he wasn’t even seen as good enough to get invited to a USTA training camp in Boca Raton, Fla., slotting in only as an injury replacement on the suggestion of California-based coach David Nanken.
When he got there, he was relegated to lesser courts with top players like Tiafoe, Paul and Reilly Opelka on the prime courts.
He returned home and told his mother how humbling it was.
But it was something else, too. It was motivating.
“I don’t think Taylor had ever played on clay. He came out to Boca. I think he lost every match he played. But the coaches and Jay, we saw something special and Taylor,” USTA player development GM Martin Blackman told The Post.
“He says that camp really ignited a new desire and commitment in him, because he’d been a big fish in a small pond in So. Cal and he played with the best kids in the country. And he saw, ‘Hey, I gotta work harder. I gotta turn it up.’ And he did.”
He’s done that, working doggedly to improve.
Driven enough to send himself a profane tough-love self-chastisement from his girlfriend’s phone after a 2021 Wimbledon exit.
Focused enough to rally past Tiafoe Friday and become the first American man in a final since Andy Roddick — who also has the last title, in 2003.
“Whether I’m playing awful or hitting one side bad or whatever throughout my career of ups and downs,” Fritz said, “one thing that’s never been in question is my heart and how I’m always going to compete no matter what.”
