Fritz on his progress: "I've earned my 4th place in the rankings".

If we're talking about last season's pleasant surprises, Taylor Fritz certainly falls into that category.

A Grand Slam finalist for the first time last year at the US Open, the American climbed to No. 4 in the world rankings after also reaching the final of the ATP Finals.

In both cases, he came up against world number 1 Jannik Sinner on the last step.

In an interview with Racquet, Fritz reflects on his progress over recent months and hopes to continue in this direction in the tournaments to come.

"There are all these other guys behind me who are nevertheless very good players. I've earned my 4th place in the rankings, and I feel like I'm where I need to be.

I mean, we all want to be that guy who wins big tournaments. I'm always looking for ways to improve my game, always analyzing the matches I lose and trying to figure out what I can realistically improve on.

I keep working hard, and once I've set myself new goals, I find it much easier to go out on court, do certain things and reproduce them.

The biggest pressure I feel is what I put on myself, because I have very high expectations of myself," he assures us.