At the Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C., laughter broke out across the internet as Taylor Fritz’s playful Instagram post took a hilarious turn. After Fritz poked fun at his own match, Ben Shelton dropped a math riddle in the comments, sparking chaos and confusion among fans. What began as cheeky banter quickly spiraled into a viral reel, birthing memes and wild guesses. But the fun didn’t stop there, Fritz, clearly fed up and slightly tipsy, finally revealed the answer with comic timing, putting an end to the madness. One joke, one riddle, and one drunken reveal, Taylor now has the last laugh as a mathematician.

Taylor Fritz pushed his limits under the Toronto lights, grinding past Czech star Jiri Lehecka in a nerve-shredding 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 battle that spilled into Monday morning. The three-hour marathon win marked a milestone, completing his full set of ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final appearances, with Canada finally locking in the last piece of his elite puzzle.

But even as the triumph soaked in, Fritz couldn’t resist revisiting the viral moment that had fans howling, the now-infamous math riddle. The same one that sent Ben Shelton spiraling into playful chaos. After all the memes and madness, Fritz decided to spell out the answer, proving that no puzzle, on court or off, stays unsolved forever.

At the end of a thrilling match, Taylor Fritz walked up to the camera for what’s become a sacred tennis tradition, scribbling a few words for fans and followers. But instead of a motivational message or a playful taunt, Fritz stunned everyone by writing: “50×20=1000.” A mathematician in a tennis jersey? Not quite, but the story behind it is pure gold.

It all began a few days earlier when the American found himself in a lighthearted Q&A session. A viral IG reel from the page AlfredoPastaDon asked, “Do tennis champion 🎾@taylor_fritz get money 😭😂👀❓” Fritz chuckled and answered confidently, “Yeah, I’d say so!” But things took a hilarious turn right after.

The next question stumped him: How much is fifty $20 bills? A slightly buzzed Fritz, visibly trying to gather his thoughts, responded with a laugh, “Fifty $20 bills… let me think a second. Uh… every five is 100 so… I’ve been drinking too much tonight. It’s $10,000.” The miscalculation lit the internet on fire.

When asked to explain his math, Fritz confessed through laughter, “In the math, I said every five $20 bills is 100. So… ten of a 100 is a 1000 and I’m an idiot.” Fans loved the honesty, and fellow American Ben Shelton dropped in with a comment that perfectly summed it up: “Ain’t no way.”

And now that he’s finally solved the math puzzle he hilariously botched while drunk, Taylor Fritz also powered through a marathon three-setter, after which he shared his thoughts on the hard-fought win.

Fritz reflects on grueling triple tie-break Toronto victory

On a high-stakes Sunday night at the Canadian Open, the drama stayed red-hot as Taylor Fritz, fresh off a tough DC Open exit, stepped back into the spotlight. In what turned out to be the grand finale of a day where every men’s singles match stretched to three sets, the American held his nerve and edged past Jiri Lehecka in a high-octane Toronto nightcap. Neither player blinked on serve, and yet the tension roared from the baseline. Across nearly three hours, Fritz saved all nine break points thrown at him, while Lehecka returned the favor by saving five of his own, per Infosys ATP Stats.

The defining moments came with backs to the wall. Fritz wriggled out of a dire 0/40 at 5-6 in the opening set. Lehecka then returned the favor at 0-1 in the decider. But when push came to shove, Fritz fired on all cylinders. He shut the door on another break point at 3-3 and then, in the final tie-break, found a ruthless rhythm, winning five of the last six points from 2/4 down. Ice in his veins, heat in his racket.

It wasn’t perfect. Fritz’s aggressive game sprayed 48 unforced errors, and yet, he never backed off. It was his serve, his relentless, rocket-powered serve, that became the cornerstone. Fritz landed 82% of his first-serve points, carving a path to his first-ever quarter-final in Canada. With that, he joined an elite club: the ninth active player to reach the quarter-final stage at all nine ATP Masters 1000 events. The final piece of the Master’s puzzle has clicked into place.

“I think just in the end [it was about] really accepting what was there for me tonight,” Fritz reflected, knowing full well the stakes. “Luckily for me, I was serving really, really well tonight. He was too.” The American stuck to discipline when instinct begged aggression. “Just make the balls that I felt like I could make,” he said, and that was enough to win the war.

With the business end of the Canadian Open now in sight, Fritz gears up for a quarter-final clash with Andrey Rublev. It’s bound to be another slugfest, but this isn’t uncharted territory. Fritz has been here before, and he’s ready to bite down again.