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American tennis sensation Taylor Fritz recently shared his thoughts on tennis players smashing their racquets on the court, citing Nick Kyrgios as an example.
Fritz recently competed in the Diriyah Tennis Cup exhibition tournament, which wrapped up on December 10. It saw him square off against Daniil Medvedev in the summit clash. The American capped off his 2022 season with a straight-sets victory over reigning champion Medvedev.
In an interview with CLAY during the tournament, Fritz expressed his thoughts on tennis players smashing their racquets on the court. He stated that he encourages the action as long as no one is injured and that it attracts younger tennis fans to the matches.
"Here is how I see it: the younger fans, they like when people are being crazy. But there’s level to it. You can’t put anybody in danger, you can’t smack a ball into the audience, or throw a racket that might hit somebody," Fritz said.
"If you are smashing your racquet on the court and it doesn’t leave your hand and there is no people really close to you that might be affected by the flying broken pieces, I don’t see a problem with it. If your racquet company wants to fine you, that’s ok, but I just think the fans love that," Fritz added.
He als stated that this explains why Nick Kyrgios, who frequently breaks racquets, has his matches "packed."
"There’s a reason why all of Nick’s (Kyrgios) matches are packed. At times, do some players go to far with it, of course I don’t want people acting insane, but I think in tennis we punish things the fans like. As a sport we need to be attracting a younger audience," he said.
"Anytime players have some type of beef, maybe don’t like each other, people are always so much more excited for when they play" - Taylor Fritz
Taylor Fritz went into more detail on the topic in the same interview. He noted that he respects the fact that average tennis fans over the age of 50 don't want to witness any drama on the tennis court. This is even though they would disagree with his stance.
"I know that’s gonna be tons of people like: ‘I don’t agree with you, I hate when I see a player smashing racquets’. Well, if you say that, I’m sure you are above the age of 50. Like, I’m sure. And you are like a very die-hard tennis fan and I respect that, but yeah, the average of the tennis fan is too old and we do need to attract younger people," Taylor Fritz said.
"This die-hard tennis fans they like it to keep it very classy and polite and wants no one doing anything, I respect that, but they should also want what is best for the sport and that’s attracting a younger audience," he added.
However, the 25-year-old quickly added that the "drama" is necessary. This is because fans his age, aka the youngsters, enjoy watching a match when there is some "beef" between the two players who are competing.
"What attracts people of my age is the drama. Let’s put it this way: anytime players have some type of beef, maybe don’t like each other, people are always so much more excited for when they play. Let’s be totally honest. It’s a matchup because you know there’s something going on with them," Taylor Fritz said.
