Taylor Fritz slammed for being ‘selfish and greedy’ by tennis fans after his latest comments

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Taylor Fritz made his greatest Grand Slam run at the US Open last year after reaching the final.

Fritz was beaten by Jannik Sinner in the 2024 US Open final, having made his best run at a major tournament to date.

Despite the disappointment of losing his first Grand Slam final in straight sets, Sinner backed Fritz to reach more major finals in the future.

Now at a career-high ranking of world number four, Fritz is one of the bigger contenders for Grand Slam titles in 2025.

However, that did not go to plan at the Australian Open, as Fritz was knocked out in the third round by tour veteran Gael Monfils.

As he looks to move past that defeat, Fritz is already making plans for his home Grand Slam tournament.

Taylor Fritz explains why he is more likely to play US Open mixed doubles this year

There has been a big change made to US Open mixed doubles this year, after tournament director Stacey Allaster confirmed that the event will receive a complete overhaul for 2025.

This includes being moved into the week before the main draw of singles, and the draw size being reduced down from 32 teams to 16.

Importantly for Fritz, eight of those teams will be able to enter this restructured tournament via their singles ranking.

There will also be a major prize money incentive, with the champions receiving $1,000,000, which is $800,000 more then last year’s winners Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori were awarded.

Fritz, who is currently competing at the ATP 250 event in Delray Beach, was asked about these changes and whether it could entice him to play the event this year.

The 27-year-old admitted that there is now a ‘good chance’ that he will play mixed doubles, and suggested that he thought the US Open had made a good decision to switch things up.

“Yeah, I think there’s a very good chance that I’ll play the mixed doubles competition honestly, it falls at a good time,” said Fritz. “I think that it’s going to be really exciting, a lot of people are going to be excited about it and I genuinely love playing mixed doubles.

“So, I think there’s a good chance I’ll play and I think for people like me, I’m excited about it, I think it’ll be a good change, but obviously I’m biased toward it because it’s in a better spot for me to play. I’m never going to play it during, you know, in between singles matches and during the tournament, so I would never play it otherwise.

“And I think a lot of doubles players will be upset about it, but at the end of the day the truth of the matter is that like mixed doubles as it was isn’t adding that much to the Slams. It’s not creating a lot of excitement, they’re not like filling up stadiums and stuff.

“Yeah, it doesn’t all need to be about I guess the money driving people. But people will be more excited to watch it with the top singles players playing together in mixed doubles, so at the end of the day the fans are going to be more excited about it.”

Fritz has only ever played mixed doubles at Grand Slams on two previous occasions, losing in the first round both times.

That being said he has played mixed doubles elsewhere, with Fritz partnering Coco Gauff at the United Cup to great success as the USA went onto win the title.

Fans criticize Taylor Fritz for his latest admission

While Fritz is excited about changes made to the event this year, the US Open have received backlash from doubles players in particular slamming the decision.

While the tournament itself is receiving most of the criticism, Fritz has received some of his own after his latest admission with fans disappointed in the American number one.

Former doubles world number one Paul McNamee, who has been very vocal about his disapproval of this decision, pointed out that Fritz was part of the US Open media release for this decision.

“Gee knock me over with a feather! Taylor Fritz was quoted in the @usopen media release, so of course he supports it,” McNamee said on X (formerly known as Twitter). “He could play as a wildcard in Fan week anyway… the timing we get, but the entry system, excluding the best doubles players, we don’t.”

Other social media users suggested that Fritz was being selfish with his decision to take places from doubles specialists.

One said, “Tennis is such an individual sport so they are all inherently selfish.”

Followed by someone else adding, “No you’re just selfish and greedy.”

Some people are now hoping that Fritz suffers a similar fate to his previous mixed doubles appearances at the US Open and does not win a match.

“I truly hope that all the singles pairs gets knocked out first round, preferably embarrassingly easy.”

While others expressed their concern for doubles players who are likely to miss out as a result of this change.

One said, “Of course you as a top 10 singles player would say that. let’s maybe ask the doubles players who are negatively affected by this change instead. This format shouldn’t award you as a grand slam winner anymore. it’s purely exhibition.”

Followed by another social media adding, “Honestly this adds to the stigma of doubles in general being viewed as “less than” or not as serious as singles. When doubles players work their a**** off.”

Someone else suggested that the increased prize money was why Fritz was interested in playing mixed doubles this year.

They said, “Easy money for Fritz I guess.”

The US Open mixed doubles event will take place over just two days this year between August 19-20.

This will be followed by the main draw of singles beginning on Sunday August 24, with the US Open being extended to 15 days for the first time in 2025.