Taylor Fritz's coach Michael Russell on grass belief, Wimbledon aims, 'catapulting confidence', and Rafael Nadal loss

When Andy Murray said recently that he believes he is among the top 10 grass players in the world right now, it might have raised a few eyebrows.

Murray is, after all, now 36 years old, ranked at No. 44 in the world, 8-8 for the season, and hasn’t made it past the third round at Wimbledon since his first hip operation in 2018.

But grass is arguably the most ‘horses for courses’ surface of the tennis season.

As it’s such a short swing, experience playing on it counts for a whole lot. So too does having a booming serve and big groundstrokes.

And if Murray is indeed in the conversation for the top 10 grass players around, so too is Taylor Fritz.

“I feel that he believes that he is one of the best grass-court players in the world,” Fritz’s coach Michael Russell tells Eurosport.

“He serves well, he's got great hands, which allows him to return a lot of the big serves, and his confidence on a grass court…I think that gives him a lot of intangible positivity on the grass, because he believes that he can win.”

With a big serve and powerful forehand, Fritz clearly has the weapons to win on grass. Two of his four career titles have come on the surface – both in Eastbourne – and Russell says it’s his favourite surface to play on.

“He won his first ATP title at Eastbourne a couple of years ago on grass and I think that just kind of helped catapult his confidence on the surface,” explains Russell.

“I think Taylor's game is a little more dangerous on the grass just because of the way that he can take the racquet out of your hand and finish points with his serve, powerful returns and first-ball strikes that gives him a little more confidence and comfort on the grass.

“Each year he's been doing a little better on the grass. So hopefully, this year, he'll have his best year.”

Fritz won Eastbourne in 2019 - and also last year - ahead of a run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals where he didn’t drop a set before meeting Rafael Nadal. Fritz looked on the verge of beating Nadal, twice leading by a set against an injured opponent who was being told by his own team to retire from the match. But eventually Nadal came through in five, leaving Fritz feeling “like crying” after the most painful loss of his career.

Russell says now the defeat was a “great learning experience”.

“It was his best Grand Slam result and being close to beating Rafa gives him a lot of confidence, but at the same time knowing that he needs to continue to play aggressive in pressure moments and continue to work on shots that will allow him to defeat guys like Rafa in those stages of the tournament.”

Fritz has beaten Nadal twice either side of the Wimbledon loss – once in the Indian Wells final and then at the Nitto ATP Finals. The victory at Indian Wells was the biggest title of Fritz’s career and he built on it by breaking into the top five in the world earlier this year. Although he has dropped to No. 8 in the world, he had a strong season on clay, which has been his least successful surface so far in his career. He made the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 in Monte Carlo as well as the last four in Munich and Geneva.

At the French Open he caused a stir by ‘shushing’ the crowd following his second-round win over Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech. The reaction got the approval of John McEnroe who said he “loved” it, but Fritz bowed out in the third round against 23rd seed Francisco Cerundolo after being booed ahead of the match.

After a short spell back in the USA, Fritz now looks set for a big summer on the grass.

“He's excited, motivated. He loves grass,” says Russell.

“He did a great job on the clay this year with the extended rallies when necessary, but he definitely enjoys the first-strike tennis, serving big and finishing points with a forehand.”

Asked whether there is anything in particular he has been looking to work on this season on the grass with Fritz, Russell added: “I still like to continue to work on transition, trying to get a little more use of the slice to mix things up, some of the intangible shots and then just in general keep working on the movement, being more explosive…it's gotten astronomically better, but it can still improve and I still think it can be a little a little quicker and a little more reactive.

“The two biggest challenges [coming from clay to grass] are court position, from playing deep in the court on a clay court, especially for Taylor, he was playing about four or five metres behind the baseline at times, especially returning serve to, on the grass, you're only one to two metres behind the baseline.

“And then just the speed and the low bounce of the grass courts, especially on return of serve. You don't have the time to take big swings. So you get those returns a little more compact and quick with the preparation.

“So it's a little more first-strike tennis, serving plus one that he needs to mentally be ready for, which he likes.”

Fritz is the second seed in Stuttgart and is set to start his grass season against Aslan Karatsev.