Taylor Fritz has been praised for becoming a “real factor” at Grand Slams by former world No 1 and US tennis great Jim Courier.

Fritz reached his first Grand Slam final at the US Open this season, alongside reaching the last eight of the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and the second week of Roland Garros for the first time.

The American finished 2023 as the world No 10 but is currently back at his career-high of world No 5, and would move up to No 4 in the live rankings if he wins his impending semi-final at the ATP Finals.

Alongside his major consistency, the 27-year-old has won two ATP Titles in 2024 and has distanced himself from the rest of the US field to be a clear No 1 player for his nation.

Speaking on the Inside In Podcast, four-time Grand Slam winner Courier praised Fritz for his consistent improvement across the season.

Courier said: “This year has been a major breakthrough for him – literally.

“This has been the year he’s become a real factor in the majors that he’s played in, to his credit. He’s really consistently putting himself into position.

“He obviously got outplayed in that US Open final. If you watched it, you saw that Sinner was able to do things from defence to offence that Taylor was unable to match.

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“That will continue to be a difficult match-up, not just for Taylor but for most players on tour, but – similar to Zverev – if Taylor can keep putting himself into position…

“The guy’s improved his movement, he’s gotten stronger – you don’t have to question his fitness. Now it’s about maintaining what you’re doing well and making minor improvements on things.

“[He can] make that drop shot a little more fluid. That’s one thing that can be super effective for him that’s not natural, but practice, practice, practice, and suddenly that becomes a language you can speak.”

Having made the last four on his ATP Finals debut in 2022, Fritz has returned to the semi-finals after just missing out on qualification in 2023.

Despite defeat to world No 1 Jannik Sinner, who he lost to in the US Open final, victories over Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur were enough for him to finish in second place in Group Ilie Nastase.

Fritz will now face the winner of Group John Newcombe, which is currently world No 2 Alexander Zverev as things stand.

Zverev faces Carlos Alcaraz in a crunch final group stage clash on Friday, while Casper Ruud takes on Andrey Rublev.

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