America’s Taylor Fritz is delighted after he entered the top 10 in the ATP rankings. Fritz feels it is a massive achievement and a big box that he always wanted to tick as a youngster. The American is now the World No. 8 after climbing three spots in the rankings following his win at the Japan Open.

Fritz becomes the first American since Jack Sock entered the top 10 rankings back in November 2017. In fact, after winning the Indian Wells by beating Rafael Nadal in the final to claim his first ATP 1000 Masters title, Fritz revealed that he wants to crack the top 10 rankings and he was able to achieve the same after winning in Tokyo.

“I think every kid growing up and every player when you first start playing, [reaching the] Top 10 is a massive milestone and it’s a dream that you want to tick off [that] box,” Fritz told ATPTour.com. 

“Obviously everyone wants to be No. 1 in the world, Top 5, there is more that I want to achieve. But I’ll always be a Top 10 player. That can never be taken away from me. “It’s one of those things that you strive for and you want for a really long time, so it’s nice to finally get there.”

Fritz had started the ongoing season as the World No.23 and he has made an upward swing in his rankings since then. 

“I felt like things started falling into place and [when] I went into this year, a lot of people asked me what it was going to take to be Top 10,” Fritz recalled. 

“I said, ‘Nothing, I just need to play the way I’ve been playing.’ Obviously [I needed] good results, but I felt like going into this year when I was ranked 20 or whatever it was, I thought my level was of a Top 10 player, so I definitely believed from the end of last year that it was super achievable.”

Fritz has been able to tick the right boxes in recent times and he will look to continue the good form in the remainder of the season.