“I hope I have a lot of people cheering for me, like in Paris” – Home favourite Fritz ready for UTS Los Angeles this weekend
World No 9 Taylor Fritz is competing in the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) this weekend, as the newest brand of tennis makes its American debut with UTS Los Angeles on Friday.
© Thierry Breton for Tennis Majors
From the grass of Wimbledon to the hard courts of Los Angeles, Taylor Fritz is undergoing quite the radical change of scenery this week.
The American will likely feel at home when he steps on court at the Dignity Health Sports Park this Friday despite the contrast, with the 25-year-old having grown up in California. As he chases his first Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) title in his third appearance, Fritz hopes to garner some healthy home support in Los Angeles.
Fritz himself is the first to admit that a crowd cheering for him would be a refreshing change from the receptions he’s received recently in the ATP Tour.
Fritz looking forward to hometown support in LA
Taylor Fritz’s relationship with the crowd at Roland-Garros will likely stay with him for all of his career. The world No 9 was venomously booed by the French crowd, after defeating home favourite Arthur Rinderknech in the night session, then gesturing to the audience to be quiet.
Now, the roles may be reversed, with Fritz playing several Frenchmen in front of an American crowd over the course of the weekend.
The 25-year-old is cautiously optimistic about his chances of receiving a warm reception at UTS Los Angeles:
“Yeah I mean, I hope so. We’ll see. I hope I have a lot of people coming out and cheering for me, like in Paris.”
However, with a DJ playing live on court to keep the crowd’s energy up between points, there’s every chance that Fritz will be facing a very different atmosphere in Los Angeles to the ones he’s been apart of in London and Paris recently.
When asked what song he’d like the DJ to play whenever he hits an ace of the weekend, Fritz responded that he’d “probably go for something like Central Cee or Lil Uzi.”
“It worked out for me last time” – Single serve no problem for Fritz
A DJ on the court won’t be the only change tennis fans see at UTS Los Angeles over the weekend.
With the sport looking to deliver “tennis like never before,” a raft of changes to the traditional rules and approach of tennis are being implemented.
One of these is cutting out the second serve, in an effort to make the game faster paced and more engaging for fans. As a big server himself, Taylor Fritz was surprisingly optimistic about the impact of this rule on his game:
“I think it’s not bad for me because it’s obviously easier to return when you’re only serving one serve, and then I feel pretty comfortable just playing behind one serve. I don’t know, it worked out for me last time,” said Fritz.
The world No 9 fell one match short in UTS 4, losing in the final to Corentin Moutet. Known as “The Hotshot,” Fritz will be looking to deliver on his nickname again in UTS Los Angeles, saying:
“I think at the last event, I was surprised with how easy it was at times to go around the net. One time I did it, I didn’t even mean to do it.”
With the likes of Frances Tiafoe, Alexander Bublik and Gael Monfils all in action this weekend, chances are we’ll see plenty of trick shot action at UTS Los Angeles.
What to expect at UTS Los Angeles this weekend
UTS Los Angeles will see eight players from the ATP Tour competing across three days in the inaugural American swing of the competition.
Players are divided into two groups, as follows:
Group A
Taylor Fritz – The Hotshot
Group B
Frances Tiafoe – Big Foe (coached by Nick Kyrgios)
Alexander Bublik – The Bublik Enemy
Across Friday and Saturday, round robin fights will occur, with six matches per day and all player featuring, before Sunday will see the semi-finals and finals contested.
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