Fritz says coaching should not be allowed during matches: “It would be insane if someone could serve for you; why can someone tell you what to do?

Coaching – audibly, from the player boxes – will be allowed across the board on the ATP and WTA Tours in 2025, as the International Tennis Federation announced last month.

The ITF said individual tournaments would decide the ins and outs of what’s allowed each week but added that the rule change was to make the game “fairer and potentially, more entertaining”.

Players, however, have not been universally in favour. On Sunday, Taylor Fritz reiterated his desire -first aired in a tweet last month – to ban all off-court coaching at individual events, saying the mental one-on-one battle so integral to the history of tennis was what makes it special.

“I think one thing that makes tennis such a unique sport, such a cool sport, is it’s genuinely as mental as it is physical. It’s a big, key part – in my opinion – to be able to figure things out and strategise by yourself,” the American said at the ATP Finals, where he beat Daniil Medvedev in his opening match.

“I just think ‘one versus one’ part of tennis where not only are you playing against each other, you’re also having this mind battle almost against each other,” he said. “It’s such a big part of the game. I think not a lot of people realie. I think you do have to play almost at the highest level to really understand how much strategy is going on.

“That’s something that should be between the two players. I think being able to make strategies, how you handle decision making, coming up with these kind of things under pressure, I think is just as important as hitting a serve or hitting a forehand.

“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? That’s just how I feel. I compare it to the same as everything else you’re doing on the court. Why would anyone be helping you?

Put microphones in player boxes to stop COACHING

Part of the reason for the rule change was to level the playing field, with many players having got away with coaching for years, partly because they were speaking a different language to the umpire, whose job it is to implement the rules.

Fritz said putting microphones in player boxes and ensuring all they did was encourage the players would easily end the unfairness.

“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, back up, hit it this way more, cover this, I don’t think that’s (fair)

“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 a lot of people would just break the rules anyway and coach anyways.

“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 penalised. That’s how you fix it. That’s how you have no coaching. Players have to figure things out on their own. That’s one of the great things about tennis.”

You might also like this

Off-court coaching to be allowed from next season

tennis majors

“It’s really good for the game” – Rome champion Rybakina a fan of new on-court coaching rule

tennis majors

ATP Finals: Fritz starts strong with a win against chaotic Medvedev

tennis majors