Taylor Fritz Fires Shots Over Controversial ATP Rule at Toronto: ‘You Get a Zero’

With tennis becoming more competitive day by day, the players have been facing a glaring issue. Several stars like Iga Swiatek and Taylor Fritz, have called out a packed tennis calendar, as the tournaments come and go week after week. Additionally, there was a major change in an ATP rule, which calls for compulsory participation in at least 4 ATP 500 tournaments in a year. However, this has made the schedule more cumbersome for the players, and Fritz was the latest star to oppose this rule.

Interestingly, Fritz participated in the recently concluded ATP 500 tournament in Washington. He reached the last eight there, losing against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Fritz hadn’t planned to play in that event, but because of the ATP rule, he had to participate after a hectic Wimbledon campaign. Thus, he made his feelings clear about the controversial ATP rule regarding ATP 500 events.

During an interview ahead of the Canadian Open, Taylor Fritz said, “This is a tough part of the year because there’s not really any weeks that make sense to like take off. there’s not a, you know, it’s 1000s, and to be honest, last week and don’t get me wrong, I really like DC and I like playing the tournament, but with how busy my grass schedule was, I would have probably opted out of it.”

Further, he went on to add, “But there’s a new rule: you have to play a certain amount of 500 events or you get a zero on your record. And because I was injured early this year, I missed two 500s. So, I actually had to play DC in order to give myself a chance to meet my like 500 quota for the year. So, I’m going to be honest. I don’t think that’s the best rule because I was injured early this year.”

Meanwhile, Taylor Fritz isn’t the only ATP star to call out the ATP over the hectic scheduling of the tournament. Even stars like Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz talked about this issue, and the two pulled out of this week’s Canadian Open. Subsequently, renowned journalist Matt Roberts explained why this tennis calendar won’t work out with the top players.

Renowned journalist questions scheduling of the Canadian Open

Ahead of the US Open, the National Bank Open in Toronto serves as a crucial warm-up event for the Grand Slam tournament in New York. However, this year’s tournament is missing some sheen, with stars like Alcaraz, Djokovic, and Jannik Sinner all absent. With many withdrawals taking place, Roberts expressed his opinion on why the top players were absent from the event.

He said, “Honestly, my reaction to these withdrawals was, well, of course. If you’re going deeper in Roland Garros and you’re going deeper in Wimbledon as these players have, you need some rest somewhere, and there used to be. There used to be four weeks really between the end of Wimbledon and the start of Canada. Since Wimbledon got moved back a week, it’s been pretty [much] like a three-week gap. But now it’s two weeks, 14 days from the end of Wimbledon to the start of Canada and it’s just too much; something’s got to give and honestly the sport should be looking at the schedule and seeing that Cincinnati starts the day that Canada ends.”

Thus, the players absent from Toronto will shift their focus to Cincinnati to warm up before the US Open. While it comes as a major blow to the National Bank Open, the poor scheduling of the tournament is to be blamed.