Taylor Fritz has slammed the upcoming rule change regarding coaching during matches.
In October the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced that coaches will be permitted to give guidance to their players either verbally or via hand signals during matches from the start of 2025.
Other than during a break in play, any messages delivered by coaches must be “brief and discreet”, and competitors are allowed to use approved “player analysis technology” when coaching is allowed.
This has received mixed response from players and fans, and the one of the world’s best has shared thoughts on the matter.
What did Taylor Fritz say about the new off court coaching rule?
The ITF have said they implemented the new coaching rule will help to make tennis “fairer and, potentially, more entertaining”.
But this rule puts a new spin on tennis which is known for being an individual sport and players having to find solutions to problems entirely on their own.
This is exactly what Taylor Fritz is unhappy about as he told reporters after his ATP Finals victory over Daniil Medvedev, strongly disagreeing with the new coaching rule.
“One thing that makes tennis such a cool and unique sport is that it is genuinely as mental as it is physical. It’s a big, key part in my opinion to be able to figure things out and strategise by yourself.
“People change things they are doing on the court to change to their opponent. I don’t want a coach to be able to tell someone hey. You see things differently when you are not playing the match.
“I just think that one vs one part of tennis where you are not only playing against each other but you have this mind battle against each other is such a big part of the game. Not a lot of people realise.
“I think being able to make strategies and how you handle decision making coming up with these kind of things under pressure is just as important as hitting a serve or a forehand. But I would be insane for someone to come on the court and hit a serve for you, so why can someone tell you what to do? That’s just how I feel.
“I compare it the same as anything else you are doing on the court. Why would anyone be helping you? I have no problem with it in team events – Davis Cup, Laver Cup – that makes sense. Individual, the rest of the season, it just makes no sense to me.”
Taylor Fritz suggests his rule change against off court coaching
After Fritz shared why he disagrees with the new off court coaching rule, he offered an alternative against it.
The world number seven explained why he thinks the new rule has come in and believes microphones should be put into the coach’s boxes to montoir their conversations.
“I think as far as it should go with the coach talking is giving encouragement and saying ‘great shot’, ‘good job’, ‘keep going’.
“I think when it gets into strategy, I don’t think that’s… I think a lot of the reason they made this rule is because they were in a way bullied into it was because a lot of people would just break the rules anyway and coach anyway.
“I think there should be mics in the boxes, I think there should be someone monitoring the mics and it should be very, very strict to where anything goes past encouragement immediately you are penalised.”
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