America’s Taylor Fritz believes that instead of allowing the
in-game coaching, the authorities must have thought about having microphones in
the boxes. There have been changes of rules in tennis from 2025, where off-court
coaching will be allowed during the match.

The announcement by the International Tennis Federation (ITF)
received mixed reviews from some of the current where some opposed the
decision. One of the big-name players who opposed the move was America’s Fritz.
The 26-year-old, who recently became the first American player in the last 18 years
to play in the final of the US Open where he lost to Italy’s Jannik Sinner in
straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, in a post on his official account
on social media platform X — previously known as Twitter — earlier stated that such
a move will take away ‘one versus one’ aspect of the sport.

Fritz is currently in Turin, Italy, where he is taking part
in the ATP Finals. The last major event in the men’s tennis calendar started on
Sunday where top eight players in the world are participating to showcase their
talent and secure the ultimate prize. The reigning world number five, after securing
a win against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in his first match of the competition, once
again talked about the new rule which will be implemented from 2025. Fritz was
of the opinion that the authorities should’ve thought about having microphones
in the boxes instead of allowing in-game coaching.

“I think as far as it should go with the coach talking
to you is giving you encouragement, saying, ‘great shot, good job, keep going,
keep fighting’ stuff like that,” he said. “I think when it gets into
strategic, like ‘back up, hit it this way more, cover this’, I don’t think
that’s (right). I think a lot of the reason they made this rule in the first
place is they were almost in a way bullied into it because people would just
break the rules anyway and coach anyway. I think there should be mics in
the boxes. I think there should be someone monitoring the mics. It should be
very, very strict to where if anything goes past just encouragement,
immediately you’re penalized. That’s how you fix it. That’s how you have no
coaching. Players have to figure things out on their own. That’s, like I said,
one of the great things about tennis. It would be insane if someone could come
on the court for you and serve, right? So why can someone tell you what to
do?”