Taylor Fritz Opens Up About His Strict Upbringing and How He’s Breaking the Cycle With His Son

Following the triumph at Stuttgart, and an early exit at Queen's, Taylor Fritz will now be looking to defend his Eastbourne Open title.

Taylor Fritz Opens Up About His Strict Upbringing and How He’s Breaking the Cycle With His Son

Taylor Fritz with his son and his father (images via X/Today.com)

In an interview with The Guardian, World No. 5 Taylor Fritz opened up about his relationship with his father and how he would like to do things differently with his son. Fritz’s mother, Kathy May, was a former top-10 WTA player who reached three major quarterfinals, and his father, Guy Fritz, also played professional tennis and coached Taylor. It could be suffocating and chaotic, and at 17, Taylor removed his father as coach and found his own way. 

His parents divorced when he was 18, and a year later Taylor welcomed his son, Jordan, with former pro tennis player Raquel Pedraza, to whom he was married from 2016 to 2019. Speaking about why he halted his coaching partnership with his father, Taylor remarked:

He wanted to coach me all the way through, but I needed someone that had been on tour. My dad’s pretty old-fashioned. He’ll just show up at the courts and ask people to practice at that time. It’s not the most organized, and it’s also hard to have that coach/father relationship.

Judging from his Instagram account, where Taylor sometimes depicts himself as “a soccer dad” delighting in the assists and goals scored by his son, he is much softer than his father. 

I can’t be there as much with my son. I’d love to be full-time with him, and so I’m softer and can’t help but spoil my son. My dad was the opposite.

Fritz present coaching team includes Michael Russell and Paul Annacone. Russell has coached many American tennis players like Frances Tiafoe, Ryan Harrison, and Sam Querrey, while Annacone has coached several tennis legends, such as the likes of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. He has been a part of Taylor’s team since 2018.

Taylor Fritz’s grass season so far

Taylor Fritz had a good start to his grass swing by winning his first title of the season at the Stuttgart Open. The American No. 1 is the first player to win a title in 2025 without getting broken all tournament, and it marks Fritz’s fourth title on grass and his ninth career title. 

Taylor Fritz
Taylor Fritz (Image via X/Wimbledon)

With this victory, Fritz improved his head-to-head record against top seed Alexander Zverev to 8-5, having won the last five matches against the German. Fresh off the Stuttgart victory, Fritz, however, was stunned in the opening match in his next tournament at Queen’s Club against French qualifier Corentin Moutet. About the match, Fritz said:

Stuttgart was also very fast, but I had a nightmare getting out of there. I had to fly out the following morning, get off the plane, have one practice, and play the next day. So I’m not going to be too hard on myself about losing [to Moutet]. It was a tough turnaround.

Fritz is now on his way to defend his Eastbourne Open title. He has won the tournament thrice—in 2019, 2022, and 2024. Marred by a rain delay, Fritz overcame a late scare from the young Brazilian star Joao Fonseca in a tightly contested three-set match in his opening round in Eastbourne. 

In the quarterfinals he had another hard-fought victory over fellow American Marcos Giron in three sets to set up a semifinal clash with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The 27-year-old will be looking to improve his Wimbledon record next week, a tournament where he has not progressed beyond the quarterfinals yet. 

Also Read: Stuttgart Open Champion Taylor Fritz Slams ‘Awful’ Rule Change Because It’s ‘Bad’ for Tennis