“People expected me to sit in the box and not capitalize on my partner's career”: Morgan Riddle on handling backlash and the support of Taylor Fritz

Morgan Riddle, Taylor Fritz’s girlfriend, addressed the criticism she’s faced for being labelled a "tennis WAG" following her rise to fame as an influencer over the past few years. The American has been dating Fritz since 2020 and has dedicated herself to sharing tennis-related content and behind-the-scenes glimpses of the Tour.

She recently appeared on the cover of The New York Times, where she was dubbed “The most famous woman in Men’s Tennis.” With over 430k followers on Instagram and more than 600k on TikTok, Riddle embraces her role as a ‘WAG’ (Wives and Girlfriends of high-profile sportsmen).

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Riddle spoke about changing perceptions of "WAGs" during a recent interview on The Squeeze podcast with Tay Lautner, highlighting how they’ve transitioned from being more reserved figures to having a greater presence, especially in today’s social media-driven world.

"Historically, a lot of the older wives and partners on the [tennis] tour have been very private, heads down, in the box," she explained. "They're there to cheer on their partner and they didn't have super public personas."

According to People, when Riddle first began posting videos, “a group of older tennis wives” would allegedly share clips of her content and “mock” her. "I think [the backlash happened] because it's different," she continued. "People expected me to sit in the box, be relatively private and not capitalize on my partner's career. And I kinda came in guns blazing. I was like, 'Well, f--- that,' and posted whatever I wanted to."

Despite accusations of exploiting her boyfriend’s career, Riddle insists the criticism hasn’t impacted their relationship. "Taylor has always been really good about [blocking out the noise],” she said. “When it first started happening, I would be like, 'Oh my gosh, look at what this person said,' and he'd be like, 'Why are you reading that?'"

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"He went pro when he was 17, so he has dealt with that for much longer than I had," she added. "So he was very helpful in coaching me through that."

Riddle also mentioned that World No. 4 Fritz “has always encouraged her” and supported her own career. "People write crazy things about us and our relationship," she said. "[But] we really love each other. We have a very healthy relationship [and] nothing that anyone says online is gonna have any sort of effect on that."

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