“Exo vs tour event aren’t comparable” – Fritz retorts criticism against schedule complaints

The debate over the hectic schedule on the ATP Tour isn’t stopping soon as American Taylor Fritz recently penned a lengthy retort to criticism against players highlighting the workload.

Fritz suffered an unforeseen defeat in the first round of the 2024 Japan Open Tennis Championships at the hands of Frenchman Arthur Fils on Thursday (September 26). He entered the tournament seeded first but lost to Fils 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

The world No 7 flew to Tokyo after an unsuccessful campaign with Team World at Laver Cup, where, interestingly, four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz claimed in a presser that the calendar has been filled with too many tournaments.

Days after the Spaniard’s remark, Australian former tennis pro John Millman took to X (formerly Twitter) and offered a contrasting opinion, seemingly calling out players saying yes to lavish exhibitions in downtime.

“There’s always been calls to have a smaller tournament schedule but it’s a hard sell when in off weeks players chase $$ exhibitions,” Millman, the former world No 33 wrote. “Then you factor in those playing on future and challenger tour, who might need those “off weeks” to play and make the little money they can.”

Frtiz was quick to respond to Millman’s comments after a disappointing exit from ATP Tokyo 500, the tournament he won in 2022.

“I agree that its tough for the tour to shorten the schedule when players will just play Exos to fill the time, and I’ve seen a lot of people criticizing some of the players asking for a shorter season because they go and play Exos,” Fritz replied to Millman’s tweet.

He discredited the tour competition being put on the same scale as the exhibition events, suggesting the latter demands less both mentally and physically.

I don’t understand that part of the argument, because playing an exo vs a tour event aren’t comparable to each other in terms of burn out — physically and especially mentally.”

Taylor Fritz

“A tour event can be 5+ days of playing all out and mentally being dialed in on all things on and off court, VS an exo you show up, have some fun and entertain for a match or two. You don’t have to all out push your body and there is absolutely 0 mental fatigue or stress. In a lot of ways an exo is a lot like a rest week and shouldn’t be compared 1:1 with a tour event.”

Fritz then hoped Millman to be on the same page as someone who’s been on tour previously.

“I don’t expect non players to fully comprehend what I mean by this,” the 26-year-old added. “Because it’s tough to judge the mental and physical fatigue that playing tour weeks entails if you not a part of it, but I would fully expect players to understand what I mean by this.”

Taylor Fritz has been traveling on tour since the North American hardcourt swing got underway in Canada. He played till the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 in Montreal and faced a first-round exit from the Cincinnati Open a few days later.

The world No 7 then completed an inspired run to the US Open men’s singles final, losing to Italy’s Jannik Sinner, and most recently represented Team World at the Roger Federer-backed Laver Cup.

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