Taylor Fritz criticizes off-court coaching: "I hate it"
Taylor Fritz positioned himself as an opponent of off-court coaching on the sidelines of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Aug 18, 2022, 04:45 pm
It was at least a small revolution that the ATP proclaimed at the end of June: From the beginning of the second half of the year, men can now also be coached during matches under certain conditions . Accordingly, players can now get more or less constructive suggestions from their boxes.
With Taylor Fritz , a world-class man has now clearly spoken out against off-court coaching. The world number 13. spoke at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati after his second round victory over Nick Kyrgios about a "stupid rule" and gave some reasons that he believes speak against coaching in tennis.
"Because tennis is an individual sport. Why don't we make it an individual sport? Tennis is both a mental and a physical sport and a big part of it is that you have to manage yourself on the court," Fritz explained his point of view.
"I find it ridiculous that you can't be there mentally, analyzing, working through things and not being good at strategy and then having someone tell you what to do. I hate it," said Fritz. It remains to be seen whether the criticism of the 24-year-old will fall on fertile ground. The trial phase of the off-court coaching runs until the end of the year.