Taylor Fritz hits back at 'crazy' social media users after deleting Joao Fonseca post
Taylor Fritz was forced to delete a pair of Instagram comments after he was hit with backlash from Joao Fonseca fans following their Eastbourne showdown.
Taylor Fritz faced a volley of criticism after making a lighthearted Instagram comment about Joao Fonseca, which he later deleted due to the backlash. The two had a drawn-out match in Eastbourne that spanned over two days because of poor lighting, with Fritz clinching a 6-3, 6-7, 7-5 win against the Brazilian prodigy, setting him up for a quarter-final clash with compatriot Marcos Giron.
Post-match, Fritz playfully commented on the hype surrounding Fonseca, who has been shining bright in men's tennis since his impressive run at this year's Australian Open and subsequent Argentina Open victory. Under an Instagram video of their Eastbourne match, Fritz wrote: "Commenting this before watching points. Betting this is 80 per cent Fonseca highlights, maybe one/two points of me winning."
After viewing the clip, Fritz updated with: "Update I was right."
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Despite the jest, Fritz's remarks didn't sit well with some of Fonseca's fans, leading him to remove his comments. Later, on X (formerly known as Twitter), Fritz addressed the situation directly after a fan shared a screenshot of the now-vanished comments, stating: "It's crazy how people have zero sense of humor and take everything so seriously, it was meant to be funny like pls chill."
The news follows Fritz's expletive-laden critique on the subject of on-court coaching. Prior to his match against Fonseca, he made a strong case for banning the practice to prevent coaches from excessively directing their players during games.
"I think it's bad for the game," Fritz expressed. "Yeah, the game of tennis, it's definitely bad. If fans could hear that stuff, maybe that's more entertaining, but we don't even do that anyway.
"Tennis is an individual sport. Why can someone else tell me what to do when the strategy of tennis is such a big part of the game, understanding what my opponent's doing?"
"How is it fair that someone... if they're not smart enough to figure that out, they need to change what they're doing. it's complete bulls--- that someone can tell them what to do.
"I just think the mind games that are going on during the match is a big part of tennis. Why would we, you know, lose that? I talk to my coach during matches, but I don't think I'm ever talking to him, like, asking him: 'What do I do?'
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"I'm telling him what I see and what I think and that he's almost just more so giving me a confirmation. I think it's bad."
