Taylor Fritz: Short of suggesting tin-foil hats to catch sneaky coaches

America’s Taylor Fritz believes that instead of allowing the in-game coaching, the authorities must have thought about having microphones in the boxes. There have been changes of rules in tennis from 2025, where off-court coaching will be allowed during the match.

The announcement by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) received mixed reviews from some of the current where some opposed the decision. One of the big-name players who opposed the move was America’s Fritz. The 26-year-old, who recently became the first American player in the last 18 years to play in the final of the US Open where he lost to Italy’s Jannik Sinner in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, in a post on his official account on social media platform X — previously known as Twitter — earlier stated that such a move will take away ‘one versus one’ aspect of the sport.

Fritz is currently in Turin, Italy, where he is taking part in the ATP Finals. The last major event in the men’s tennis calendar started on Sunday where top eight players in the world are participating to showcase their talent and secure the ultimate prize. The reigning world number five, after securing a win against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in his first match of the competition, once again talked about the new rule which will be implemented from 2025. Fritz was of the opinion that the authorities should’ve thought about having microphones in the boxes instead of allowing in-game coaching.

"I think as far as it should go with the coach talking to you is giving you encouragement, saying, 'great shot, good job, keep going, keep fighting' stuff like that," he said. "I think when it gets into strategic, like 'back up, hit it this way more, cover this', I don't think that's (right). I think a lot of the reason they made this rule in the first place is they were almost in a way bullied into it because 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. It should be very, very strict to where if anything goes past just encouragement, immediately you're penalized. That's how you fix it. That's how you have no coaching. Players have to figure things out on their own. That's, like I said, one of the great things about tennis. It would be insane if someone could come on the court for you and serve, right? So why can someone tell you what to do?"