Taylor Fritz gets support from Kim Clijsters and Michael Russell after failing to get nominated for ATP's Most Improved Player of 2022 award
On Thursday, Taylor Fritz made public his disappointment at missing out on a nomination in the Most Improved Player of the Year category at the 2022 ATP Awards.
His opinion received endorsements from a few retired players like his current coach Michael Russell, Belgian icon Kim Clijsters and Justin Gimelstob.
44-year-old Russell took to social media to repeat Fritz's words, stating that his pupil deserved to get nominated along with Carlos Alcaraz, Maxime Cressy, Jack Draper, and Holger Rune.
"Disappointing to see that you weren’t nominated," Russell tweeted.
Disappointing to see that you weren’t nominated… twitter.com/taylor_fritz97…
Four-time Grand Slam winner Clijsters also came forward to show her support for the 25-year-old American as she wrote:
"Definitely."
@Taylor_Fritz97 Definitely!
Former American player Gimelstob, who retired from professional tennis in 2007, lauded Fritz for speaking out fearlessly.
"Completely agree and love that you aren’t afraid to call it out," Gimelstob wrote.
Completely agree and love that you aren’t afraid to call it out! twitter.com/taylor_fritz97…
Taylor Fritz played a total of 67 matches in 2022, winning 46 and losing 21. He kicked off his season as the World No. 23 and finished as the 9th-ranked player in the ATP rankings. The American won three singles titles this year — the Indian Wells Masters, the ATP 250 Rothesay International in Eastbourne, and the ATP 500 Japan Open in Tokyo.
Speaking at a press conference at the ATP Finals, Fritz stated that despite struggling with injuries, he managed to deliver results this year.
"I think that I've proved that I belong in the top 10. I just need to keep working hard. I think there's a lot of positives to take out of this year. I finished where I did and I missed pretty much the whole clay court season, didn't have any training going into the beginning of the hard court season. I was dealing with injuries, and I still was able to produce a really solid year. I'm just excited to kind of get back to work, keep improving, next year look to cement my spot even more," he expressed.
Taylor Fritz looks at US women players for success at 2023 United Cup
The inaugural edition of the mixed-team event, the United Cup, is scheduled to be played from December 29 to January 8 in Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney. Team US will have the services of Frances Tiafoe, Denis Kudla, Hunter Reese, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys, Alycia Parks, Desirae Krawczyk, and Taylor Fritz.
In a recently-released video by the United Cup, Fritz hailed the American women's players and expected them to carry the entire team.
"The most exciting thing about the United Cup for me is potentially getting carried because we have really good girls from our country. Hopefully, the girls will get some wins for us, and, you know, my work will be minimal," Taylor Fritz said.