“At the Olympics You’re Losing Points!”: Taylor Fritz Calls For “More Incentive” Than Playing for Country in Biggest Sporting Event

Taylor Fritz is preparing for the 2024 season with the United Cup. The 26-year-old will be part of the Team USA during the event. The USA are the defending champions, having won the United Cup in 2023. During a press conference, Taylor Fritz spoke about team events and how the tennis event at the Olympics could be made better for players to value it more and give it more than their level best, like they do in other tournaments.

The 2024 Olympics are set to be played in Paris with nearly all top tennis players set to compete in it. However, Fritz has raised some concerns about the same. The points system of the regular tennis season are not applicable during the Olympics, which can cause some players to perhaps, unfair lose out on points which could be gained by playing in other competitions if held then. While undoubtedly, it is an honor to play under the national flag, but Fritz believes that shouldn’t come at the cost of player welfare.

Fritz opined that competing in Olympics can lead to losing points for some while others don’t lose points even if they don’t do well at the event. The American agreed that competing in the Olympics does not take away points but doesn’t add value for players either.

“I think playing for your country is enough, but if you take [that] away, then there’s no other tournaments during the Olympics. It’s not only you’re not getting points at the Olympics, you’re actually losing. You’re actually losing points. I’m defending a title that week. I lose that.”

Taylor Fritz echoes Patrick Mouratoglou, wants Olympics points system back

Taylor Fritz hopes that points earned at the Olympics are counted in the future in the ATP and WTA rankings. Fritz stated a fact that normally, the Olympic Games clash with the North American swing. This means that American players miss out on points as they go away to represent their country at the games.

“I think definitely they should bring back points. There needs to be some type of incentive. Like, it hurts everybody, like, especially the Americans a lot to not – like, you miss two weeks of the year on US hard.”

Fritz further added that only a few players end up with medals from the Olympics. Meanwhile, most of the players competing get nothing in return. He ended by saying that winning points will be an additional incentive for the players who are representing their country at the Olympics.

The American top-seeded men’s player’s recent comments echo that of reputed French coach and pundit, Patrick Mouratoglou. Mouratoglou also courted controversy a few months ago by claiming that players really do not value the Olympics as such, when compared to ATP events or Grand Slam tournaments. Although Novak Djokovic hit back by disagreeing with his opinion, lower-ranked players perhaps would understand the sentiments as well as practicality behind it.