Russell wins 2024 ATP Coach of the Year Award | ATP Tour

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Russell wins 2024 ATP Coach of the Year Award

December 11, 2024

Michael Russell has been named Coach of the Year at the 2024 ATP Awards after helping compatriot Taylor Fritz break new ground on several fronts this season.

The No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings played in his first Grand Slam final at the US Open, reached the championship match at the Nitto ATP Finals, and posted the highest position in the PIF ATP Rankings for an American since James Blake He also finished No. 4 in 2006. Fritz, 27, also lifted the ATP 250 titles in Delray Beach and Eastbourne this season.

“It’s incredible. It’s an honor,” Russell told ATPTour.com. “I am proud to have been selected by my fellow ATP coaches. It means a lot to me. We all work very hard under the radar. We spend many hours working to get the players in the best possible position and to maximize their talent. So it’s nice to be recognized. I feel very happy and honored.”

Russell, who was No. 60 in the PIF ATP Rankings, began working with Fritz in late 2021. In 2022, he helped the American lift his first ATP Masters 1000 title and break into the Top 10 for the first time, and Russell can now reflect on another stellar season in which Fritz amassed a 53-23 win-loss record.

“It’s very satisfying,” Russell said when asked about Fritz’s accomplishments this year. “We always have process objectives, which are nothing more than continuing to improve and becoming stronger and more explosive on and off the court, working on our game. Meeting the objectives is very satisfying. Achieving these great results and finishing the year among the five first – to be the first American to finish the year at No. 4 since James Blake – is fantastic and I hope we continue to push the limits. We will try to go even higher, during 2025 and beyond.

While it’s achievements like reaching the US Open final that grab the headlines, Russell considers the most important aspect of his job to be the less ‘obvious’ day-to-day work that he believes can help Fritz achieve greater success.

“I’m definitely more focused on process-oriented goals and making sure Taylor works harder in the gym and faster on the court and becomes a more complete all-around player,” Russell said. “I think the results will speak for themselves and will come. That’s what I’ve focused on from the beginning, since we started working together at the end of 2021.”

“We’ve had really good synergy, and it’s been almost a steady climb up the rankings since then. I think it’s just a testament to the continued work we’ve done, and he’s continued to improve.”

Russell partly attributes his rise to coaching a Top 5 star to his wife, Lilly, who believed his experiences as a player on the ATP Tour and his excellent Tennis IQ could be put to good use after he stopped competing.

“After retiring from playing in 2015, I started high performance training here in Houston,” Russell explained. “My wife, who is part of the player support team and obviously supports me a lot, urged me to get into professional coaching, because she had a lot of experience, almost ‘a pHd’ in tennis!”

“That’s when I started working with USTA player development, and that’s when I started working with Taylor, a few weeks a year. We had very good synergy and communication. So when Taylor had the opportunity to look for a coach full-time, it seemed natural to take on that role, and since then we have built a good team.”

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Russell in practice with Fritz at the 2023 US Open. Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images.

Although Russell has been helping Fritz reach new heights for three seasons, he believes 2024 was important for his pupil in terms of getting acquainted with being a part of some of tennis’s biggest occasions. For Russell, those novel experiences also gave him the opportunity to learn as a coach.

“I think it’s important for the player to continue believing in themselves when they’re on the big stage, and Taylor is achieving that,” he said. “He had a very heartfelt battle in the semifinals of the US Open, and it was kind of a quick change for the final, going from the night match to playing the day match on Sunday. That’s complicated, and it’s kind of a learning experience to try recover as soon as possible, as we did.

“But I think the most important thing is that, by the mere fact of living those experiences, the player has more confidence in himself, he has no doubts. It is the security of belonging to a team and knowing how to remain calm, poised and confidence in those situations. My job is to make sure the player feels that way and that he is prepared strategically, tactically and physically for those games.”