Michael Russell has been voted Coach of the Year in the 2024 ATP Awards. Russell guided Fritz to his first Grand Slam final at the US Open and two ATP titles in Delray Beach and Eastbourne. Fritz reached the championships match at the Nitto ATP Finals and finished the year at a career-best of world number 4 reaching the highest year-end ranking by an American player since James Blake, who reached world number 4 in 2006. Fritz achieved a record of 53 wins to 23 defeats during the 2024 season.
Fritz also became the first American man to reach the US Open final since 2006, when Roddick lost to Roger Federer in four sets. In New York Fritz beat Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud achieving the first two top 10 wins in a Grand Slam tournament. He became the first US player since André Agassi to reach the fourth round at each of the Grand Slam tournaments in the same season.
Russell reached a career-high of world number 60 in August 2007. The US coach started working with Fritz in 2021 and guided him to his first Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells in 2022.
“It’s amazing. I am honoured. I am humbled to be selected by my fellow stellar ATP coaches. It means a lot. We all work so hard under the radar. We spend a lot working for the players to be in the best position possible and to maximise their talent. That’s very satisfying. We always have process goals and those are just to keep improving everything and getting stronger and more explosive on the court, off the court, working on your game. To have those stellar results and finish the year in the top 5, the first American year-end number 4 since James Blake, it’s great company to be and hopefully we keep pushing the envelope and looking to strive even higher. We have had really good synergy. It’s been almost a steady climb up the rankings since then. It’s just a testament to continued work that we have done. He has continued to improve”, said Michael Russell.
