Not since James Blake finished the year within the top four ranked male tennis players in 2006 has an American tennis player finished in as strong a position as Taylor Fritz has at the end of 2024.

A 27-year-old from California in the US, Fritz has been one of the beneficiaries of Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal’s retirements this year, which followed Roger Federer calling it a day in 2023, too. Fritz, in 2024 alone, reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon, reached the fourth round in the French Open, and was a finalist at the US Open.

Reaching the final of the Tour Finals, too, put a punctuation mark on the best year of his entire playing career, and it was only a question of when, rather than if, he’d break into the ‘Big Four’, and then retain his place there.

Taylor Fritz Cracked The Big Four in November

The American kept hold of his place and will finish 2024 as the fourth-best male player in the world

Following his runner-up spot in the Tour Finals, Fritz climbed to the fourth spot when the player rankings were updated mid-November. On Monday, the 2nd of December, the ATP confirmed its year-end rankings and Fritz will finish the year as the fourth-best player — the first time an American player finished that high since Blake did, in 2006, which is almost 20 years ago.

Together with his quality finishes at the year’s majors, from the Australian Open at the start of the year, to Wimbledon, and narrowly missing out on the US Open championship having lost in straight sets to Jannik Sinner, Fritz also won the Olympic bronze medal, and two ATP 250 events; the Delray Beach Open at the Delray Beach Tennis Center, Florida, in February and the Eastbourne International at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club in England, in June.

By finishing inside the top four at the end of the year, Fritz joins illustrious Americans who all achieved greatness in tennis, including Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, and Roddick.

Considering how close Fritz is getting to major success, it may not be long before he improves upon his current ranking, wins some of the sport’s top prizes, and claims the No.1 spot of his own.

Per the ATP, he has earned a little more than $21 million in prize money from singles and doubles competitions in his career so far.