Who is Taylor Fritz's mother Kathy May? All you need to know about the former top 10 player who helped the American along in his career
Kathy May is the mother of Taylor Fritz and was a tennis player herself, mostly during the 1970s. She reached three Grand Slam singles quarterfinals throughout her career.
While May did not have the most illustrious of tennis careers, she did enter the Top 10 of the WTA rankings, attaining a career-best of tenth on July 1977. She won seven singles titles during her playing days, six of which came when she was a teenager. May also managed to secure a victory against Martina Navratilova in Dallas in 1977.
In Grand Slams, Taylor Fritz's mother reached three quarterfinals, the first of which came at the 1977 French Open, where she beat Dianne Evers and Helen Gourlay-Cawley before losing to Janet Newberry. The following year, May reached two Major quarterfinals at the French Open and the US Open, losing to Mima Jausovec and Wendy Turnbull respectively.
She never went past the last eight on the doubles circuit either, where she won four titles. Kathy May's last match came in 1991 during the qualifiers of the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles. This was six year before Taylor Fritz was born.
Kathy May heaped praise on Taylor Fritz after he reached US Open 2023 QF
Fritz reached the US Open quarterfinals for the first time in his career in 2023, 45 years after his mother attained the feat. He beat Steve Johnson, Juan Pablo Varillas, Jakub Mensik and Dominic Stricker to make it to the last eight of the New York Major.
Reacting to Fritz reaching the quarterfinals, his mother said:
"So proud of my son! It’s so nice to see all the hard work paying off."
Fritz has won 35 out of 47 matches so far in the 2024 season, winning two titles. The American is currently competing at the Wimbledon Championships, where he is the 13th seed.
Fritz started the tournament with a comprehensive 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win over Christopher O'Connell. He then defeated Arthur Rinderknech and 24th seed Alejandro Tabilo to reach the fourth round.The American came back from two sets down to defeat fourth seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-3 and reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the second time in his career.
Here, Fritz will take on 25th seed Lorenzoo Musetti, with the winner facing either second seed Novak Djokovic or ninth seed Alex de Minaur in the semifinals.