"We been on trial for 2 years... proves my point" - Taylor Fritz continues to voice distaste as ITF legalizes off-court coaching
Taylor Fritz voiced his criticism against ITF's new rule of allowing off-court coaching for players from 2025. The announcement of this rule, which was reportedly in place since 2022, has garnered a variety of opinions from the tennis fraternity.
This rule highlights that coaching will be allowed at any point in time, except when the player is playing a point. It can also take place in between points, change of ends, set breaks, etc. According to the rule, the coaching between points should be short and tactful, and the communication can only take place verbally or through hand signs.
Fritz voiced his disagreement by resharing a post from The Tennis Letter on his X(formerly Twitter) handle. The post mentioned this is the first time when off-court coaching is being permitted for all the individual matches and the change has been brought to make tennis 'fairer and entertaining.'
The World No. 6 had a different take on this rule change as he wrote:
"Can we stop ruining the 1v1 mental/strategic aspect of the sport PLEASE," Taylor Fritz wrote.
Another X(formerly Twitter) handle replied to Fritz's comment by sharing a statement that explained all the rules and mentioned that these rules had already been in place since 2022 on a trial basis:
"This is simply the codification into rules of the same thing you all have been doing on a trial basis already for two years."
Acknowledging this reply, Taylor Fritz highlighted the trial basis part and voiced his opinion, saying:
"I have a joke w my team that "trial basis" in ATP terms just means it's a new permanent rule but call it a trial so people don't freak out... We been on this trial for 2 years I guess now, kinda proves my point."
Taylor Fritz had called the off-court coaching rule "dumb" in 2022
Taylor Fritz was vocal about his thoughts when the ATP announced the off-court coaching rule on a trial basis in 2022. He gave his opinion about the rule after his victory against Nick Kyrgios at the 2022 Cincinnati Masters.
Deeming it a 'dumb' rule, Fritz said that he and his coach, Michael Russell, have never communicated with each other ever since the rule was implemented.
"I haven't talked to Mike and he hasn't talked to me one time since the coaching has become a thing. It's a dumb rule,” Taylor Fritz said.
He also emphasized on retaining the 'individual' aspect of tennis and how a big part of the on-court competition is 'mental'.
“[It is a dumb rule] Because tennis is an individual sport. Why are we making it not an individual sport? A huge part of tennis is, in my mind, like as tennis is as much mental as it is physical, and a big part of it is you need to be figuring it out on the court for yourself. You need to be the one figuring it out."
Taylor Fritz recently reached the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters on October 12, where he was defeated 6-4, 7(6) by Novak Djokovic.