Taylor Fritz Perfectly Explains What's Wrong With Tennis Now

On Saturday afternoon, Taylor Fritz finally defeated Novak Djokovic. However, there was little to celebrate. The third-place match at the Six Kings Slam did not count in the ATP record book and did not come with any additional prize money.

Making matters worse, Fritz's long-awaited victory over Djokovic came in the form of a walkover when the 38-year-old retired with an injury after the first-set tiebreak.

The dour mood deepened when the tennis world learned that Holger Rune ruptured his Achilles tendon in Stockholm. It was the latest example of why tennis players are speaking out against the long tour schedules.

Top-ranked Brit Jack Draper posted a fiery message on social media calling for a shorter schedule. Taylor Fritz agreed with Draper's larger point, but provided some much-needed context for what is really plaguing the sport.

Facts, also seeing more injuries and burnout now than ever before because balls, courts, conditions have slowed down a lot making the weekly grind even more physically demanding and tough on the body.
— Taylor Fritz (@Taylor_Fritz97) October 18, 2025

As always, the top-ranked American provided incredible insight into the sport. Fritz replied to Draper, "Facts, also seeing more injuries and burnout now than ever before because balls, courts, conditions have slowed down a lot making the weekly grind even more physically demanding and tough on the body."

Fritz was far from finished. He explained the importance of ball quality, "Balls make a much bigger difference on how fast the court plays than the actual court speed. Shanghai last year had a very high CPI, but the slow balls we used made it play slow.

This year, the balls were still slow, and they also slowed the courts, and it was brutal. I can say with certainty every ball we play with consistently, with the exception of the US Open ball that is used for Toronto, Cinci, US Open is much slower and more dead compared to when I started my career."

He further clarified, "A lot of people struggle to differentiate between slow ball / slow court. It's only something I have picked up in recent years. It's easy to play with a slow ball and just think the court is slow when maybe it's not, and vice versa."

From earlier today.

Great insights as always from Taylor Fritz. pic.twitter.com/mZ3ebSmvWN
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) October 19, 2025

Fritz then provided a personal anecdote directly from the tour, "A good example of this is that I heard someone play tested the ball for Shanghai prior to the Shanghai event and said it was a fast ball, and that is one of the reasons Shanghai slowed the court down. I can assure you whoever play tested the ball did so on a lightning-fast court and couldn't differentiate the two, so they thought the ball was fast."

Eventually, Fritz's insightful lecture was derailed by fans on social media. However, he did provide one final point that helped illuminate the issue.

"There's nowhere where you will find me complaining about how the conditions hurt my game. I am having the most successful years of my career in the current conditions. That's why you should understand there is no bias when I am simply stating what you are also stating, balls and court conditions are slower, and that is contributing to more injuries. That is all, that is my entire point," concluded Fritz.

I can understand that complaint. The only thing I’m trying to say is that the fatigue, stress, and overall time commitment of these events is nowhere near the same as playing a tour event. All that being said i still am turning down several Exo events that would pay well because…
— Taylor Fritz (@Taylor_Fritz97) October 18, 2025

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