Taylor Fritz responds to Shanghai Masters slow court criticism: "The ball we switched to this week is just really slow"

Taylor Fritz responded to Daniil Medvedev's criticisms of the courts at the Shanghai Masters.

The Russian tennis player had a successful start in the tournament's second round as the second seed, defeating Chilean world No. 98 Cristian Garin 6-3, 6-3. However, the defending champion wasn't pleased with the condition of the court on the central court, particularly regarding the speed of the surface.

"To go back-to-back tournaments so fast, different balls, different surface so that's very tricky," said Medvedev.

"Before was one of probably the fastest on tour. Now I don't know what's slower here or Indian Wells. So yeah it is what it is. Have to play like this, I managed even on slow hard courts this season to play well so that's what I'm going to try to do," he added.

The American world No. 10, Taylor Fritz, didn't miss Medvedev's comments and shared his opinion regarding the court's speed. According to him, the courts remain the same as usual, and the difference lies in the type of tennis balls being used.

“Courts are actually as fast as they always are…. The ball we switched to this week is just really slow,” Fritz said.

The 25-year-old American overcame a tough first round where he had to work hard to defeat Yosuke Watanuki in three sets, with a score of 7-6(2), 6-7(6), 6-4. In the third round, he is still awaiting his opponent from the match between Jiri Lehecka (27th) and Diego Schwartzmann.

On Medvedev's side, he faces a tough opponent in Sebastian Korda (26th). The Russian was the last champion of the tournament, although the previous edition was in 2019 before the Shanghai Masters was suspended due to pandemic restrictions. In that final, he defeated the German Alexander Zverev convincingly with a score of 6-4, 6-1, securing his second consecutive Masters 1000 title after the Cincinnati Open.