Taylor Fritz wants to make one thing crystal clear: Wilson’s tennis balls have nothing to do with his US Open third-round loss. Fans tried to connect his loss to the equipment issues, but he was quick to shut them down in a straightforward message on social media.

“Also anyone that is trying to tie this into my loss or say I’m making an excuse for any loss, please seek help,” Fritz posted on X. “I’m sorry to tell you that you are in fact illiterate. As I said before I really liked the tournament balls and this rant is me wishing I also had them when I come home to train after the tournament.”

That post came after Fritz’s “massive tennis ball rant,” in which he aimed at the major difference between the Wilson US Open balls used during tournaments and the ones available to buy. The difference became clear to Fritz when he returned home and started training.

Fritz played with the tournament balls in Washington, Cincinnati, and New York this summer, giving him plenty of time to get used to how they felt off his racket. He said he really liked them and knew exactly how they were supposed to respond. In fact, he won the Washington title, defeating Rafael Jodar in straight sets.

But when he got home and opened the Wilson US Open balls he had for practice, he felt something was off. According to Fritz, the retail balls felt nothing like the tournament ones.

He described them as “incredibly soft, dead, and going nowhere,” and even compared them to green-dot kids’ balls. That’s a pretty strong comparison from a player who had just spent weeks using the tournament version.

Fritz also said he tried balls from multiple cases to make sure he wasn’t simply dealing with one bad batch. But the problem remained.

Apparently, he isn’t the only one who has noticed it. Fritz said other players he spoke to after the US Open also described a similar difference between the balls they used at the tournament and the ones available to them afterward.

This seems to be the problem per Fritz because players should be able to train with the same balls they compete with. If the ball feels different in practice, it can affect the real match, how much risk they are willing to take and even how they prepare for it.

He also made it clear that, in his view, this isn’t only a Wilson issue. Over the last year and a half, Fritz says he has noticed differences between retail and tournament balls from both Wilson and Dunlop.

But the timing of Fritz posting this rant aligned with his US Open loss against 28th seed Francisco Cerundolo, even after he held a two-set lead. Thus, fans were quick to make a connection between the two, and so Fritz pushed back, reinforcing what he wanted to say. 

He isn’t saying the tournament balls contributed to his loss. In fact, he has said the opposite, but his complaint is about Wilson US Open balls available for purchase. 

Fritz simply wants the balls he practices with to feel like the ones he competes with, and that is the reason for the rant and clarification for people connecting two separate things, per him.