Taylor Fritz opens up over what his relationship with Tommy Paul is like after winning an Olympic medal together

The 27-year-old will be aiming to go a step or two further at Wimbledon this year after losing to Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals 12 months ago.

Fritz is currently the American number one, but he’s started to get pushed all the way by compatriot Tommy Paul in the ATP world rankings.

Last August, the United States pair won bronze at the Olympics, and it would appear that Fritz has a lot of respect for his partner.

Taylor Fritz makes claim about relationship with Tommy Paul

Fritz and Paul boast contrasting styles on a tennis court, and as a result, the pair are considered a bit of a dream team when it comes to the doubles circuit.

The two players will likely play alongside each other again in the future, and it’s clear that Fritz has a lot of time for his fellow American.

Speaking on the Tennis Insider Club podcast, Fritz lavished praise on Paul and credited their relationship at the Paris Olympics last year.

He said: “I think it’s really cool that we were able to do it together. Like, I grew up with Tommy. We’ve known each other since we were, like, 14 years old, so I used to, like, he’s one of my best friends.

“So I think that experience together was really cool. I think the whole Olympic experience was awesome.

“That was my first time going. I had opted out of the last two. Rio, I didn’t really want to go. And then I was super excited to go to Tokyo. And then when everything came in with, like, all the COVID everything.. I was like, I don’t want this to be my first Olympic experience. It’s just not going to be, like.. correct.

“Like COVID. No one can be around anyone else. Like, the village was just going to not be like the village. So it was like, I just, I just didn’t want to do that.

“So. It’s the first time the US team, like the whole team, all the tennis players, were at like a really nice hotel, they had like a really nice hotel booked for us.

“Tommy and I were like, nah we’re in the village, we’re grinding it out, like sharing, you know, sharing, like, the smallest. Jerome also grinded it out with us. Everyone else came for like a day and then went to the hotel. We were committed to it.

“And then, yeah, I don’t think I really realised how important winning a medal was to me until I was serving for the match in the Bronze match at, like, 40-15. That’s when it was like, oh, my God, like, I’m actually like tight. It got back to Deuce, we were down a couple of break points, like, it was a little scary.”

Tommy Paul makes up ground on Taylor Fritz in the ATP rankings

A solid run to the quarter-final at the French Open saw Paul reach the top 10 in the rankings for the first time in his career.

The American came up against eventual winner Carlos Alcaraz and did come across as being a little bit overawed in that particular contest.

However, it’s onwards and upwards for Paul, who is now up to eighth in the world rankings, just four places behind Fritz, who is back up to number four after his BOSS Open victory.

American tennis has had some barren years in recent memory, but with Coco Gauff and Madison Keys both winning majors on the female side of things this year, that will surely spur the men on to get back among the winners very soon.