Taylor Fritz and his girlfriend, Morgan Riddle had previously pledged to “make tennis cool again.” They want tennis to be cooler and more appealing to a younger fan base. We’ve seen Riddle coming up with multiple efforts to make that a reality. However, recently, the ITF has come up with some new rules in the tennis world. According to Fritz, these rules will indeed take away what makes tennis a “cool, unique” sport. Previously, we saw him coming up with a tweet stating, “Can we stop ruining the 1v1 mental/strategic aspect of the sport PLEASE.” Now, he has elaborated a bit on the same in the recent press conference at the ATP Finals.
Taylor Fritz recently defeated Daniil Medvedev by 6-4,6-3 in the first group stage match. Following his emphatic victory over the Russian, Fritz appeared at the post-match press conference. During the press conference, a journalist asked him to reflect a bit more on his stand on the new rule. Now, what’s the new rule, though? According to ITF’s recent announcement, they would allow off-court coaching from January 2025. They claim the rule change is intended to align coaching approaches with the sport’s modern-day demands.”It’s also meant to help ease the burden on chair umpires in policing the practice, often across multiple languages, by reducing subjectivity,” claims ITF.
However, according to Taylor Fritz, “I think one thing that makes tennis such a unique sport, such a cool sport, is it’s genuinely as mental as it is physical. It’s a big, key part, in my opinion, to be able to figure things out and strategize by yourself. People change things that they’re doing on the court to adjust to the opponent.” He further added, “You see things differently when you’re not playing the match sometimes. I just think ‘one versus one’ part of tennis where not only are you playing against each other, you’re also having this mind battle almost against each other. It’s such a big part of the game. That’s something that should be between the two players.”
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Taylor Fritz stressed the importance of being able to make one’s own strategies during matches and handling the whole decision-making process in tense situations during matches. He further equated mental assistance from the coach with the bizarre idea of the trainer walking down to the court and replacing the player during the course of play.
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Is Taylor Fritz fully against the rule, then? Well, interestingly he also claimed that he has no problems with it in team events like United Cup, Davis Cup, or even Laver Cup. According to Fritz, that “makes sense.” However, “Individual, the rest of the season, it just makes no sense to me.” We’ve seen several tennis stars sharing their thoughts on the new coaching rule. What are they saying?
Is Taylor Fritz reflecting the same lines as the renowned tennis insider?
Just a few days ago, in Andy Zodin’s KickServeRadio podcast, we heard Zodin bringing up the example of Coco Gauff and Brad Gilbert to explain how the new rule might not be good for the players. He said, “I’ve not been able to get my arms around it because when I see the look on some of these player’s faces, Coco Gauff and Brad Gilbert showed stuff on Tour and other players, they seem more annoyed.” Andy Zodin stressed how players like the support of having people encouraging them but with respect to giving them specific instructions.
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Now, during the recent press conference we heard Taylor Fritz say, “I mean, for the first part, I think as far as it should go with the coach talking to you is giving you encouragement, saying, Great shot, good job, keep going, keep fighting. Stuff like that. I think when it gets into strategic, Back up, hit it this way more, cover this, I don’t think that’s…” He is clearly not happy with this new rule, he wants players to figure things out on their own.
Not only Fritz, but even the Canadian star, Denis Shapovalov was among the first ones to point a finger on this new rule. He said, “Why do you try to change the beauty of this game? Not only as a tennis player but also as a fan of this sport, it is sad to see these new rules on coaching. Tennis is special because you are alone on the court. Why are you trying to change the beauty of this game?” Several others have also shared their opinions on the same, but what are your own thoughts about this new rule in tennis?