Wimbledon is now underway and while the games on the iconic grass court are exciting, the lives of the tennis players are just as interesting.
Taylor Fritz, the world number five, is set to face Gabriel Diallo in the second round of the tournament. The model-esque player has been a professional for ten years. Here’s everything we know about his life off court.
Taylor Fritz, 28
Taylor went pro after winning the Junior US Open in 2015. Since then, he’s risen through the ranks of professional tennis. Last September, Taylor became the first American to reach a major final in 15 years. Unfortunately, he lost the match in three straight sets to Jannik Sinner.
“I’d probably think about it forever if I don’t [win a grand slam tournament],” Taylor told The Guardian.
While Taylor’s über competitive on the court, his personal life is a bit calmer.
Taylor’s love life
Taylor married his high school sweetheart, Raquel Pedraza, in 2016, when they were just 18 and 17. The two bonded over their love of tennis. Raquel was a professional tennis player, just like Taylor.
© InstagramA year after their wedding, Taylor and Raquel gave birth to their son, Jordan, now eight-years-old. “I think [having a kid] taught me a lot of lessons about time management,” Taylor told Haute Living. “I have to juggle all these different things.”
After three years of marriage, Taylor and Raquel divorced in 2019. Raquel retired from tennis and lives a much more private life. But since then, Taylor’s career has only taken off.
“I have a son that I don’t get to see near as much as I’d like,” he said on Netflix’s show on tennis – Break Point. “As it stands right now, I just have to try to see him as much as I possibly can.”
© GC ImagesIn 2020, Taylor met influencer Morgan Riddle on the dating app Raya.
“Because it was during Covid, no restaurants were open, no bars were open so we ordered sushi,” Morgan told PEOPLE. “We went to his place and I made him watch Midsommar with me, the really messed up horror movie. Why I chose that as my first introduction to a guy, I don’t really know. I think I traumatized him a little bit.”
Morgan and Taylor’s relationship was heavily featured in Break Point. And Morgan has gone viral on TikTok for her outfits ahead of big matches, saying she wants to make “tennis cool again,” because it’s “relatively uncool and unknown in America.”
“There were no partners on tour who were sharing anything about tennis or dating a tennis player,” Morgan told HELLO! Fashion. “There was no one getting ready for matches. There were no brands dressing partners on tour for matches. There were so many people that said to me ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve been a tennis fan for my whole life and I’ve never gotten to see this side of the tour.’ People were excited about my work. It’s been really fun for me to sort of bring a younger audience into tennis.”
The TikTok received over 700,000 likes and a bit of backlash.
© Getty ImagesBut, Taylor defended Morgan saying during a press conference: “I think what she did was awesome for our sport. It got a ton of people looking at it. I think you get your typical older fan who may be upset about it. I don’t understand how anyone can get upset about it. I’m the one that’s a professional tennis player, I’m the one that does this for a living. I 100 percent agree with everything in that video.”
The couple travel across the world together as Taylor competes, spending as much as 30 weeks out of the year on the go.
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