"Tennis is stuck in the 1950s!" - Reilly Opelka and Taylor Fritz express their bemusement at ITF's decision to suspend Mardy Fish and Bob Bryan
World No. 9 Taylor Fritz has expressed bewilderment at the news of the ITF sanctioning Mardy Fish and Bob Bryan.
Fish and Bryan, who are both part of the USA's coaching team for the Davis Cup, were fined $10,000 and issued with suspended bans of four months for their involvement in promoting sports betting company DraftKings on social media during the 2022 US Open.
Taylor Fritz took to Twitter to question why the Tennis Channel could run segments for DraftKings, but coaches could not place legal bets on other sports.
"Huh?!?! So tennis channel (and many others) can run special segments for draft kings, but as a coach, you aren’t allowed to legally sports bet on another sport that has nothing to do with tennis ????" tweeted Fritz.
Huh?!?! So tennis channel (and many others) can run special segments for draft kings, but as a coach you aren’t allowed to legally sports bet on another sport that has nothing to do with tennis ???? twitter.com/benrothenberg/…
Reilly Opelka shared a similar view and opined that the sport was stuck in the 1950s.
"Tennis is stuck in the 1950s!" tweeted Opelka.
Tennis is stuck in the 1950s! twitter.com/BenRothenberg/…
Tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg was also surprised by the ITF's decision and asked if the Tennis Channel employees would be held accountable for promoting DraftKings on-air.
"So many Tennis Channel employees have been roped into doing cringeworthy Draft Kings promo work on air. Many of them also have other roles in the sport. Will they also be accountable for that?" inquired Rothenberg.
So many Tennis Channel employees have been roped into doing cringeworthy Draft Kings promo work on air. Many of them also have other roles in the sport. Will they also be accountable for that?
“I absolutely feel like I belong" - Taylor Fritz
Taylor Fritz had a career-best season in 2022, which saw him break into the top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time. He finished the year with a 46-21 win/loss record and won titles in Tokyo, Indian Wells, and Eastbourne.
In his post-match press conference after his semifinal exit from the ATP Finals, the 25-year-old said that was proud of his performances this season and felt like he belonged in the top 10.
“I absolutely feel like I belong. I think that I've proved that I belong in the Top 10 and I belong here. I just need to keep working hard," Fritz said.
“Fortunately for me, I think there's a lot of positives to take out of this year where I finished. I finished where I did and I missed pretty much the whole clay-court season, didn't have any training going into the beginning of the hard-court season. I was dealing with injuries and I still was able to produce a really solid year. I'm just excited to get back to work and keep improving. Next year [I will] look to cement my spot even more,” he added.