"Always had problem with Fergus" - Taylor Fritz calls out chair umpire amid Frances Tiafoe and Stefanos Tsitsipas' outbursts at Shanghai Masters

Taylor Fritz recently addressed the umpiring controversy involving Frances Tiafoe, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and others at the 2024 Shanghai Masters. In that regard, the American acknowledged the new shot clock rule but made known his aversion to the frequent time violation warnings handed out to players.

Fritz, the seventh seed, has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters with victories over Terence Atmane, Yosuke Watanuki, and Holger Rune. He is set to lock horns with former World No. 7 David Goffin for a place in the semifinals on Friday, October 11.

In his post-match press conference following his 6-1, 6-2 victory over Holger Rune, Taylor Fritz was asked to offer his perspective on the tournament being marred by umpiring controversies. The majority of the player-umpire confrontations so far have stemmed from the new automatic shot clock rule. The rule seemingly allows players no breathing space between points, considering the 25-second countdown starts almost immediately after the previous point concludes.

"I've got tons of opinions," Taylor Fritz said.

"I think it's a good change they made originally with the clocks, now that it's automatic, because before it was up to the umpire to start the clock, and umpires would be different," he continued. "I think it's a good change now that it's consistent, that they start it right after the point."

However, Fritz opined that the exhaustion caused by longer rallies should be factored in while implementing the shot clock rule.

"Sometimes it's like, you play a long point, you finish the point at net, that sometimes need to be factored in where it's going to take extra time," he opined.

During the Asian swing, where the automatic shot clock is in effect, several players, including Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, Frances Tiafoe, and Stefanos Tsitsipas, have received time violation warnings for starting their serve past the countdown. Many have voiced their frustrations by engaging in heated arguments with chair umpires.

On Tuesday, October 8, Tiafoe yelled expletives at his umpire after being given multiple warnings during his third-round loss to Roman Safiullin. Similarly, on Wednesday, Stefanos Tsitsipas confronted chair umpire Fergus Murphy during his loss to Daniil Medvedev.

"I always had a problem, particularly with Fergus," Taylor Fritz recalled. "He would start the clock so fast. I play very quickly, and I was getting time violations called on me from him, but only from him, so I complained about that a lot."

Fritz also defended his compatriot, Tiafoe, against the initial warnings he received but maintained that the final warning was valid. The 2024 US Open finalist opined that Tiafoe faked his toss to elude a warning and had no intention of executing his serve within the allotted time.

"When I watched Frances, I think the first time, the warning, that shouldn't have been called," he said. "The second time he stopped to cough. I also probably don't think that should have been called."

"The third time, that's probably the only one that I think could be called, because if he's going to toss the ball up to start the motion, he has to make it believable that he's going to serve."

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"That's insane, that can't happen" – Taylor Fritz on umpiring error in Stan Wawrinka's Shanghai Masters match

Fritz pictured at the 2024 Shanghai Rolex Masters - Image Source: Getty

Taylor Fritz also addressed chair umpire Carlos Bernardes’ error in Stan Wawrinka and Flavio Cobolli’s second-round match at the Shanghai Masters.

During the closely contested deciding set, Bernardes wrongly updated the scoreboard in winner Cobolli’s favor, eventually granting him the solitary break of the match.

Neither the players nor the ground officials alerted Bernardes of his game-changing mistake.

'That's insane, that can't happen. I'm shocked that nobody noticed," Taylor Fritz said in the aforementioned press conference.

"I'm shocked that Stan didn't notice, that the server didn't notice in that situation, it's really insane," he added. "Messing up the score in a big match in the third set is just, that can't happen."