The tennis world is currently reeling over the news of an enforced rule change from ITF that enables more on-field coaching to be permitted.
The International Tennis Federation has announced that the rule will commence from January 1st 2025.
Previously, players would receive a code violation if they were said to be receiving coaching from the stands.
Under the new regulations, on-court-coaching – where a coach is near the vicinity of the court – will remain banned unless it’s taking place during a team event such as the Davis Cup.
Coaching will now be permitted at any time during a match apart from when a point is taking place and it’s a move that hasn’t gone down too well.
What Taylor Fritz has said about ITF rule change
Fritz has enjoyed a really successful 2024 and reached a maiden Grand Slam final at the US Open where he lost out to Jannik Sinner.
That will give him huge confidence, however, and so will the fact that he won a bronze medal at the Olympics alongside Tommy Paul.
He’s not happy with these rule changes though and has taken to X to vent his frustrations at the decision to tweak things.
He said: “Can we stop ruining the 1v1 mental/strategic aspect of the sport PLEASE!”
Paul Annacone in total agreement with Taylor Fritz
The renowned tennis coach has helped top players such as Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Tim Henman and right now, he works with Fritz.
He’s been speaking on this whole situation that is currently causing a stir among the top professionals on the tour.
Annacone is not a big fan of it either and believes coaches earn their coin on the practice court and not during matches.
He told the Tennis Channel: “I’m not a fan, I’ve never been a fan from the beginning and I think they’ve missed a beat. I agree with Taylor (Fritz) on this.
“We need to celebrate our sport, it’s one person against one person – in doubles, it’s two against two. There’s no other sport where it’s solely about you, you cannot hide, you have to figure it out, you’ve got to be a better thinker on the court and understand what’s going on.
“I don’t think it should be about us coaches, it’s got to be about the players. My job as a coach is to give the players the tools so that they can think in the most pressure-packed situations and figure it out.
“It’s not for me to tell them what to do at that moment, that’s for practice so that when you get out there they can figure it out and they either do it or they don’t.”
Change unlikely to be for the better
Tennis is all about players facing off against each other in one of the most mentally demanding sporting environments.
As a result, it’s hard to imagine these changes being overly positive and it doesn’t feel as though it will be well received.
Certain players will now constantly be looking at their coaches almost willing them to play the point for them during matches.
It feels as though this wasn’t broken and didn’t need fixing and now it will be fascinating to see how this plays out on the tour next year.
We can’t help but feel that Annacone and Fritz will be proved completely right, however.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
