Taylor Fritz opens up about the 'gold' standard set by Rafael Nadal

America’s Taylor Fritz has opened up about the impact of Spain’s legendary tennis star Rafael Nadal on his generation of players. The 38-year-old, who is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era, has announced that he will retire after the upcoming Davis Cup.

The team-based mega-event is set to be played in Malaga where Nadal will represent Spain in the quarterfinal clash against the Netherlands. Fritz, who became the first American player in 18 years to play in the final of the US Open this year, has been recently quoted in a report where he talked about the impact Nadal had on his generation.

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The 27-year-old, who had a fabulous 2024 season where he most recently finished the ATP Finals as the runner-up after losing to world number one Jannik Sinner in the final, was of the opinion that many people tried to copy the 22-time Grad Slam winner. Fritz also went on to stated that a lot of left-handed players looks up to Nadal and believes that matching him is equal to reaching a ‘gold’ standard.

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"I feel like I see a lot of lefties that try to play exactly like Rafa,” he said. “I mean, if I was lefty, I'd try to play exactly like Rafa, too. It's probably good I'm not lefty because it wouldn't be very good trying to do that (smiling). Yeah, I think in terms of people trying to emulate his game, I feel like there's so many lefties that just look to Rafa as like the gold standard of what you want to do. I mean, even me when I was a kid, I'd be on the court pretending I'm playing the French Open, doing like this and stuff. He's had a massive impact on my whole generation because we all grew up on watching him and Roger.”