Tennis star speaks out after girlfriend's video furore at Indian Wells
American tennis star Taylor Fritz has spoken out about a viral video featuring his girlfriend that sparked some backlash from fans.
World No. 20 Fritz is dating Morgan Riddle, whose TikTok video about her life travelling the world with her boyfriend went viral last month.
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Riddle attempted to give Americans a unique insight into the sport of tennis, saying: “I know tennis is relatively uncool and unknown in America”.
Speaking to non-tennis fans, Riddle explained the four grand slams, how the ATP tour works, as well as the scoring and rankings systems.
She also pointed out that she gets to drink and eat “champagne and strawberries and cream” at Wimbledon, as well as “getting to wear really cute outfits”.
More power to her, tbh.
(Who’s making the Make Tennis Cool Again hats is all I want to know.) pic.twitter.com/BZkHt2U9S1— Blair Henley (@BlairHenley) February 12, 2022
The video has racked up over 3.7 million views, however some accused Riddle of being privileged and tone deaf to some of the bigger issues going on around the world.
Addressing the furore at Indian Wells this week, Fritz said he believes the video is good for the sport.
“I think what she did was awesome for our sport. It got a ton of people looking at it," he said.
“I think you get your typical older fan maybe upset about it. I don’t understand how anyone can get upset about it.
"I’m the one that’s a professional tennis player, I’m the one that does this for a living. I 100 per cent agree with everything in that video.
“People know a couple, they know what the grand slams are, a couple little things about it, they’re like, ‘What are you talking about?’"
Taylor Fritz says tennis isn't talked about in America
Fritz said he hopes his girlfriend's video would bring a new audience to tennis and get Americans talking about the sport more.
“No, tennis isn’t talked about on ESPN unless it’s a very select few or under certain circumstances," he said.
"You’re never going to hear SportsCentre talk about, ‘Oh, so-and-so American won their match at Monte Carlo’. It’s not popular like that.
“It’s nice to see tennis kind of getting more attention. I thought what she did was awesome.
“Regardless of the reaction people had from it, I think everyone in the tennis community can agree that it’s good for tennis to kind of almost sell it in a different kind of way, that she would know - she knew her audience would react to.”
Fritz advanced to the quarter-finals at Indian Wells on Wednesday with a three-set win over Australia's Alex de Minaur.
De Minaur's record in fourth round matches at ATP Masters 1000 events slumped to 0-7 when he went down 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5).
The 29th-seeded de Minaur took the first set, but Fritz fought back to prevail in a third-set tiebreaker.
De Minaur was up an early break in the deciding set before he battled back from a break down.
The tie-breaker went with serve until the 12th point when Fritz forced a backhand error from de Minaur.
with AAP
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