"I’ll give him sh*t when he gets here" - Taylor Fritz jokes as Frances Tiafoe misses his flight for Shanghai Masters due to apparent airport mix-up

Taylor Fritz playfully poked fun at compatriot Frances Tiafoe for missing his flight to China for the 2023 Shanghai Masters.

After helping Team World secure their second consecutive win over Team Europe at the Laver Cup, Fritz and Tiafoe are set to compete at the ATP Masters 1000 event in China. While Fritz has been in Shanghai for a few days, Tiafoe is yet to arrive in the city.

In an interview with TennisTV, Taylor Fritz was asked about when Frances Tiafoe was expected to arrive in Shanghai. In response, the American joked that Tiafoe's arrival depended on whether he made it to the correct airport on time.

"Who knows. Depends if he went to the right airport or not," Fritz responded.

The 25-year-old divulged that Tiafoe had missed his initial flight because he had gone to the wrong airport by mistake.

"Yeah. I believe he went to the wrong airport," Taylor Fritz said.

When asked whether he had heard from the World No. 11, Fritz mentioned that he wouldn't tease Tiafoe over the phone but would instead make fun of him in person when he made it to Shanghai.

"I didn’t feel like it. I mean, I’ll give him sh*t when he gets here, but I feel like when he misses his flight, the last thing he wants is me texting him and making fun of him. That’s the last thing I would want," he said.

"I’ll make fun of him a little when he’s here, but I’m not going to. I feel like he’s probably feeling a little down. I’m not going to text him and piss him off when he’s trying to make a new flight or something," he added.

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A brief look at Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe's record at Shanghai Masters

Frances Tiafoe (left) and Taylor Fritz

Taylor Fritz first competed at the Shanghai Masters in 2016. The American beat Stephane Robert before falling to eventual runner-up Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round.

Fritz suffered second-round exits at the 2018 and 2019 editions of the ATP Masters 1000 event as well, losing to Sam Querrey and Karen Khachanov, respectively.

Entering this year's edition of the event as the seventh seed, the World No. 8 has received a bye in the first round. He will take on the winner of the match between Yosuke Watanuki and Juncheng Shang in his tournament opener.

Frances Tiafoe, meanwhile, made his tournament debut in 2017. He emerged victorious over Benoit Paire before suffering a straight set defeat to Querrey in the second round.

In both 2018 and 2019, Tiafoe crashed out of the Masters 1000 event in the first round, losing to Mathew Ebden and Denis Shapovalov, respectively.