With just two days to go until the third Grand Slam of the year, Taylor Fritz has still not arrived in South West London, having decided to compete at the Eastbourne Open.
The ATP 250 event marks his third appearance at a Wimbledon tune-up tournament, following his campaigns at the Queen’s Club Championships and the Stuttgart Open.
He crashed out of Queen’s in the first round to Corentin Moutet, but emerged victorious in the German city, after Fritz defeated Alexander Zverev in the final to clinch his first title of the season.
As he wraps up his Wimbledon preparations in Eastbourne, the world number five has been blasted for his decisions ahead of the championships.
Taylor Fritz blasted over scheduling decisions ahead of Wimbledon
Speaking on ‘The Tennis Podcast’, British sports broadcaster David Law said of Fritz: “I do question this schedule that he plays.
“I know he likes to play a lot of tennis, right? But to come into the grass season, play Stuttgart, great. Won the title. Brilliant.
“Lost first round in Queens. And then to play again in Eastbourne, to play all the weeks, and to be busy now over this weekend.
“I mean, great if he wins Eastbourne, then to be playing Mpetshi Perricard, who I know he’s not had a very good year, certainly not a very good couple of months, and he’s got this massive serve, et cetera, but I’m trying to work out, does this help Fritz?
“To come in and play Mpetshi Perricard and have kind of got his eye in, generally, I mean played a load of matches.
“Or is it that you turn up, your backdrop is completely different here to what it’s been in Eastbourne, you haven’t had many reps of practice.
“I mean, we’re seeing guys practice on the show courts here, aren’t we right now, and getting used to the surroundings.
“He could get mugged by him in the first round. You know, you could just get caught out and I’m really interested to see. I wouldn’t be doing it that way if I were him.”
Sports commentator Catherine Whitaker added: “It can’t be a total accident that Grand Slam champions don’t do it like that.
“They don’t tend to play, unless in exceptional circumstances, they don’t play in the week before a slam, and they certainly don’t play all three weeks of grass leading up to Wimbledon.”
Taylor Fritz’s two quarter-final appearances at Wimbledon
Fritz has proven himself to be one of the best grass-court players in the world, and since his debut on tour, he has enjoyed two deep runs at Wimbledon.
After six attempts at making it past the third round at the All England Club, the American reached the quarter-finals in 2022, where he lost to Rafael Nadal over five sets.
In 2023 he suffered an early second-round exit, but the following year he reached the last eight once again.
Last year, Fritz defeated Zverev to advance to the quarter-finals, but bowed out to Lorenzo Musetti in his next match.
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