Taylor Fritz's coach Michael Russell on grass belief, Wimbledon aims, 'catapulting confidence', and Rafael Nadal loss

When Andy Murray said recently that he believes he is among the top 10 grass players in the world right now, it might have raised a few eyebrows. Murray is, after all, now 36 years old, ranked at No. 44 in the world, 8-8 for the season, and hasn’t made it past the third round at Wimbledon since his first hip operation in 2018.

Ad But grass is arguably the most ‘horses for courses’ surface of the tennis season. ATP StuttgartStruggling Kyrgios suffers early exit to Wu on return from injury in StuttgartA DAY AGO As it’s such a short swing, experience playing on it counts for a whole lot. So too does having a booming serve and big groundstrokes.

And if Murray is indeed in the conversation for the top 10 grass players around, so too is Taylor Fritz. “I feel that he believes that he is one of the best grass-court players in the world,” Fritz’s coach Michael Russell tells Eurosport. “He serves well, he's got great hands, which allows him to return a lot of the big serves, and his confidence on a grass court…I think that gives him a lot of intangible positivity on the grass, because he believes that he can win.” With a big serve and powerful forehand, Fritz clearly has the weapons to win on grass.

Two of his four career titles have come on the surface – both in Eastbourne – and Russell says it’s his favourite surface to play on. “He won his first ATP title at Eastbourne a couple of years ago on grass and I think that just kind of helped catapult his confidence on the surface,” explains Russell. 10 burning questions for the grass season Djokovic targets shot at Calendar Slam “I think Taylor's game is a little more dangerous on the grass just because of the way that he can take the racquet out of your hand and finish points with