Taylor Fritz: Inside her rise and competitive spirit | ATP Tour

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Taylor Fritz: Inside her rise and competitive spirit

His physiotherapist Wolfgang Oswald reflects exclusively

September 06, 2024

Taylor Fritz broke into uncharted territory by defeating Alexander Zverev by second major consecutive to reach the semi-finals of the US Open. The American had reached the quarter-finals of Grand Slams four times, but had never crossed that threshold. That changed with a sublime performance against the two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion.

According to Wolfgang Oswald, Fritz’s physiotherapist, the Californian is not satisfied with having taken another step forward in these tournaments.

“Before, there may have been a feeling of relief. ‘I’ve made it to the second week, I’ve made it to the quarterfinals,'” Oswald said. “He actually said it a few days ago in the car. ‘I’m not going to celebrate, because this isn’t over. I’m not happy.'”

Fritz remains focused on continuing the greatest feat of his career and will attempt to become the first American to win a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick won at Flushing Meadows 21 years ago.

ATPTour.com caught up with Oswald, who knows Fritz like no one else, to better understand Taylor’s growth and mindset. The Australian has followed Fritz since he faced Tommy Paul in the 2015 Roland Garros junior final. He then followed his steps on the ATP Challenger Tour, including a tiebreak that Fritz contested against Dustin Brown.

At the time, Oswald was a tennis fan working in Arizona. He got into tennis because Brett Waltz, the current physical therapist for Frances Tiafoe, Fritz’s opponent in the US Open semifinals, thought it would be nice to have a physical therapist with tennis experience like Oswald on the circuit.

One day, the Australian received a call asking if he could be in Chengdu on Wednesday. Despite having a full schedule, Oswald got organized and packed his bags to work with Fritz that same week.

“I didn’t know Taylor. I didn’t know David Nainkin, his coach, either. [en ese momento]… I went to breakfast, met up with Taylor and we went straight to the tournament. He was playing in qualifying and got through. He made it to the quarterfinals and that’s how it all started,” Oswald said. “We had never even spoken on the phone. I showed up in Chengdu (China). It was originally supposed to be a three-week trip.”

It ended up being a five-week trip, as Fritz was attempting to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF. Oswald even got to compete in an ATP Challenger Tour tournament in Vietnam during that trip.

“Taylor is pretty reserved if he doesn’t know you. I remember him on the phone saying ‘Hi’. I talked to his coach quite a bit in the car, because his coach and I have a lot of mutual friends. The tennis world is pretty small,” Oswald said. “There wasn’t a lot of communication, because Taylor is pretty reserved and quiet. But I remember he had his routine, I had mine and we grew up together.”

After a rocky start to their relationship due to how quickly everything happened, the two got to know each other better at the ATP Challenger Tour tournament in Ningbo, where Oswald had to take on additional duties. The two ended up spending more time together.

“We went shopping, went out to dinner,” Oswald recalls. “Afterwards, we started to communicate better. We got along pretty well.”

And it didn’t take long for Oswald to get to know Fritz’s competitive spirit.

“The first match I played with him, in the Chengdu qualifiers, I didn’t know him that way yet. You don’t get that from watching him on TV,” Oswald said. “I saw how relaxed he is and then suddenly you see that hunger and how he’s trying to find a way to win. Right from the start, you can tell he’s a competitor.”

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^{Photo: Sarah Stier/Getty Images}

According to the physical therapist, Fritz’s competitive nature comes to the fore in many circumstances, including video games and the batting cages in Tokyo during their second week together. It’s not something that’s limited to the tennis courts.

“In video games, he’s ultra-competitive. If we’re playing cards, he’s ultra-competitive. In chess, he’s ultra-competitive. In any kind of team game, he’s ultra-competitive,” Oswald said. “If we’re doing track workouts, even if there’s nothing at stake. ‘Hey, you have to do sprints on the bike or push-ups,’ that’s when he becomes competitive. He’s competitive in almost anything he does.”

“I’ve seen him get angry. He was actually really into FIFA. He plays other games now, but when he was playing FIFA, I remember seeing him beat a pro FIFA player, we thought he was a pro based on his username. I remember him getting really competitive, even breaking a couple of the controllers on the console. He would get into that competitive spirit, he would get really angry if he lost.”

But Fritz doesn’t always live that way. In fact, he is more reserved than many of his peers off the court.

“He’s calm and collected, very calm except when he’s on the court. His heart rate doesn’t go up if we’re late for a flight. He’s very calm and collected,” Oswald said. “Then, if you watch him in a game, he’s just fighting until the end. I think that calmness helps him have mental energy when he needs to turn it on. If you’re always on fire, and you have to turn your energy up in a game, that can be exhausting.”

That mindset has helped Fritz climb to No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings and tick off a few to-dos along the way. The current World No. 12 has won at least one ATP 250, ATP 500 and ATP Masters 1000 title.

“Having been to the quarter-finals of Grand Slams and being close to the semi-finals, that’s the next step. He knows that situation and he knows how to handle it,” Oswald said. “We haven’t been talking about how happy he is to be in a Grand Slam semi-final these past few days. The job is not done, let’s go for it.”

Oswald has watched his protégé grow in a number of ways over the past seven years, from physical improvements to strides in maturity and more. Fritz has parlayed that growth into a match away from becoming the first American male Grand Slam finalist since Roddick at Wimbledon in 2009. His old friend Tiafoe is the latest obstacle to that goal.

“Frances and he have pushed each other. Their training volume increased as Frances approached the Top 30. Fritz then overtook him and Frances continued to improve,” Oswald said. “They both continue to motivate each other. Even though they are good friends, neither wants to lose to the other. I can say that.”