To continue moving forward Taylor Fritz of Rancho Palos Verdes first had to look back.
Fritz was trying to find ways to diversify his game and accelerate his climb up the tennis rankings when it occurred to him to seriously examine his longstanding joke that he had hit his forehand better when he was 17 or 18 years old than he had been doing in his early 20s. He dug up old video of his forehand and tried to replicate it in his matches. The rewards were almost immediate.
Fritz, 24, reached the final 16 at the Australian Open this year for the first time, a run that ended with a five-set loss to world No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas. He also improved his ranking to 16th last month, another career pinnacle.
