From Melbourne to Disneyland to Newport Beach. Taylor Fritz took quite the unconventional route to lift his fifth ATP Challenger Tour trophy.

Exactly one year ago, the 21-year-old American scored his biggest title yet, capturing the crown in Newport Beach. One year later, Fritz found success once again in Southern California, notching the first successful title defense of his young career.

Located less than an hour from his hometown of Rancho Santa Fe, Fritz feels right at home at the Oracle Challenger Series Newport Beach. He streaked to the title on Sunday, downing Brayden Schnur 7-6(7), 6-4 in one hour and 25 minutes. The American was battle tested throughout the week, clawing from a set down on two occasions, before saving a set point against Schnur en route to the title.

Last year, Fritz left Newport Beach at No. 76 in the ATP Rankings. Now, he has risen to a career-high No. 40 with his latest victory in the California town.

The 21-year-old has kicked off his 2019 campaign in strong fashion, having also reached the quarter-finals at the ATP Tour stop in Auckland and third round at the Australian Open. Fritz upset Gael Monfils in four tight sets in Melbourne, before falling to Roger Federer.

?Newport Beach? Cutest trophy pic in history with my little man? pic.twitter.com/b6K9n7YbS3

— Taylor Fritz (@Taylor_Fritz97) January 28, 2019

The American spoke about his victory…

Congrats Taylor. How does it feel to successfully defend a title for the first time?
It feels good, because there’s a lot of pressure that comes with it. To deal with the pressure and come out on top makes it that much sweeter. I just didn’t think about it to be honest. I knew that if I competed hard and played my game, I wouldn’t have to do anything special.

What was the key today against Brayden?
My serve. My serve got me through a lot of tough situations and it closed out the match for me. I knew it was going to be a close match, because he doesn’t have much to lose playing me. I expected him to come out swinging. I just tried to neutralise his serve as much as possible with deep returns. I told myself that it doesn’t really matter how well he serves, as long as I don’t get broken. In the second set, I was able to steal a break and hold my serve through the rest of the match.

You had a long trip from Australia and went right to work here. How did you manage the different conditions?
I needed to play my way into the tournament. Coming off a flight from Australia and straight to playing matches was tough. I’ve been playing with different balls on a different court speed for the past two months, so it was just a lot to get used to. 

I flew out of Australia on Sunday at 1pm and landed here on Sunday at 9am. I didn’t sleep at all on the plane and drove straight to Disneyland because it was my son’s birthday. I was there all day and was dead after. I slept until 1pm on Monday and then I drove here that night. But I only had about 30 minutes of practice before my first match. The wind on Tuesday really messed up my plans before my first match on Wednesday. But I was able to find my way as the week went on.

Being from Southern California, did you have any friends and family come out? How nice is it to play so close to home?
For sure, I had all my friends from school come out. My whole family too – my mom and dad and my wife and son. They all came out. I always play my best at home. In Indian Wells and here to win the title twice, I always do well in Calfornia.

It’s been a great start to the year, also reaching the Auckland quarters and third round at the Australian Open. Talk about the importance of starting the year strong.
It’s really important to start the year strong. I always slow down a bit when the Europe swing comes around, so I need to get as much a lead on everyone now. I usually start the year strong because it’s fast courts in Australia which I like and then the U.S. swing which I play well in. It’s usually a stressful time of year for me, but so far it’s the best start to a season I’ve ever had. I’m just looking to build off it and keep moving forward.

You got a big win over Gael Monfils in Australia and faced Roger Federer too. How important are those matches to see where your game is against the top players?
It’s really important, especially playing three out of five sets. They’re just really mental and physical matches. And against someone like Monfils and Federer, who have played a million best-of-five set matches, it’s really good for me to see that I can come out on top. I wish I could have played better against Roger, but being on the big stages against the best players, I just need more experience with that so I can handle the moment better and play my best tennis.

He did it again! @Taylor_Fritz97 is defending his @OracleChallngrs Newport Beach title with a hard fought 76(6) 64 victory over @BraydenSchnur. Very well done, Taylor! Great final by both players. Great audience. @ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/rgCIJIuWpF

— OracleTennis (@OracleTennis) January 27, 2019

What did you and your team focus on with your preseason training?
I did two weeks of very light hitting, mainly just weightlifting and conditioning. Tons of gym stuff. Our trainer in Orlando, Brent Salazar, is great. Toughest guy I’ve ever worked with. He’s an ex-NFL strength and conditioning coach. So he was absolutely killing us for a couple weeks there. Then I came back to Carson (California) and worked a lot on my serve. Just hitting all the spots and being able to serve anywhere. A lot of movement too. It’s showing, because I feel stronger and faster as well.

Finally, you are up to a career-high of 40 in the ATP Rankings. Did you set any goals for the year? How high can you climb?
I want to be Top 20 by the end of the year. Recently, I’ve seen that a lot of the guys around my age who finished a season around Top 40, would explode into the Top 20. Guys like Medvedev, Khachanov and Coric. I feel like this is a big year for me to rapidly move up the rankings.

1. Djokovic Is A Step Above The Field
Novak Djokovic underwent surgery on his right elbow after last year’s Australian Open, and a return to the top of the sport was no guarantee. Last May, Djokovic’s record for the season sat at 6-6. 

Just eight months later, Djokovic is the clear No. 1 player in the ATP Rankings. On Monday, when the new standings are released, Djokovic will lead World No. 2 Nadal by 2,635 points and World No. 3 Alexander Zverev by 4,480 points. The Serbian has won 36 of his past 39 matches, and 57 of 64 since his 6-6 start to 2018.

And perhaps it wasn’t that he won the tournament in Melbourne, but how he did it. In the semi-finals, Djokovic lost just four games against Lucas Pouille, marking the seventh time in the Open Era that a man had lost four games or less in a Grand Slam semi-final.

Then, with the championship on the line and a legend in Rafael Nadal across the net, the 31-year-old made just nine unforced errors in three sets to clinch a record-breaking seventh victory in Melbourne. It was Nadal’s 25th major final, and never before had the 17-time Slam champion failed to win a set.

“Twelve months ago it was highly unlikely I would be holding three Slams,” said Djokovic, who also triumphed at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018. “I just have to be conscious of that and understand that I’m blessed.”

2. Nadal’s Injury Lay-off Didn’t Affect His Form
Nobody expected Djokovic to defeat Nadal in straight sets in the final, and that result does not take away from the Spaniard’s efforts this fortnight. After all, when he arrived at the Australian Open, Nadal had not played a tour-level match since retiring in last year’s US Open semi-finals against Juan Martin del Potro.

You would not have been able to tell that Nadal missed four months by watching him bulldoze his way through the bottom half of the draw. The World No. 2 did not drop a set en route to the final, the seventh time he has done so at a major.

And most importantly, Nadal looks fit and ready for another strong season on the ATP Tour. He holds a 116-15 record since the start of the 2017 Australian Open, so a loss against Djokovic won’t dim his spirits.

“I had a great two weeks, being honest, I can’t be sad,” Nadal said. “I played against a player that today was better than me. There’s no doubt about that. That’s all.”

3. Tsitsipas, Tiafoe Lead #NextGenATP Charge
There were a lot of firsts at this Australian Open for the #NextGenATP, with some of the world’s leading 21-and-under players leaving their marks at Melbourne Park. Leading the way was reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas, who advanced to his maiden major semi-final.

This time last year, the Greek had just six tour-level wins to his name. But Tsitsipas stunned Roger Federer in the fourth round and backed that up with an impressive four-set victory against in-form Doha titlist Roberto Bautista Agut before falling short against Nadal. On Monday, Tsitsipas will climb to a career-high No. 12 in the ATP Rankings, 52 weeks on from sitting at No. 83.

Frances Tiafoe also made his biggest breakthrough yet, battling to his first Slam quarter-final. In his first 11 Grand Slam appearances, the American reached the third round just once. So beating fifth seed Kevin Anderson and 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov en route to the last eight was impressive.

#NextGenATP Aussies Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin thrilled their home crowd with runs to the third round, and Canadian Denis Shapovalov took one of the two sets Djokovic lost in the event.

4. Pouille, With Mauresmo In His Corner, Making A Push
Entering the Australian Open, Pouille had lost four tour-level matches in a row. Less than a year after cracking the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings for the first time, Pouille was the 28th seed in Melbourne.

But with new coach Amelie Mauresmo by his side, Pouille went on a memorable run to the semi-finals, where eventual champion Djokovic stopped him in three sets. Two especially impressive wins came against 11th seed Borna Coric and former World No. 3 Milos Raonic.

Pouille had lost all three of his FedEx ATP Head2Head clashes against Raonic heading into their quarter-final. In fact, the Frenchman had not won a set in any of those meetings. But he jumped to a two-set lead and battled past the Canadian in four sets to make his maiden major semi-final.

“I’m very happy the way I played and with the way I got into this tournament, this beginning of the year,” Pouille said. “I think it was the best start possible. It gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the year.”

5. Herbert/Mahut Make History
Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut arrived in Melbourne with an opportunity to complete their career Grand Slam. The Frenchmen had triumphed as a team at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. But an Australian Open trophy was still missing from their trophy cases.

After battling through three-setters in the second and third round, Herbert and Mahut found their stride, winning their final eight sets of the tournament to capture glory on Rod Laver Arena, ultimately defeating two-time Nitto ATP Finals winners Henri Kontinen and John Peers.

“We knew when we won Roland Garros [last year] that [the Australian Open] was the one missing, so for sure it added maybe a special motivation when entering to this tournament. After, it’s always tricky because when you want something, you have to make the good decisions and to be in the good state of mind to be good on court,” Herbert said. “I think we wanted it, but we also wanted to be good on court in each match and we focused on the game, and that’s why maybe today we could achieve what we achieved here at the Australian Open.”

Novak Djokovic made history on Sunday evening, setting the record for Australian Open titles with seven after defeating Rafael Nadal in the championship match. After his victory, the Serbian sent an exclusive message to fans in appreciation of their support.

“I want to thank everyone for believing in me,” Djokovic said. “Thank you once again. I love you all, and see you around the world!”

Watch Novak’s full message:

? @DjokerNole fans…

The 2019 #AusOpen champion has a message for you ? pic.twitter.com/AVjgES1V5E

— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) January 27, 2019