Taylor Fritz responds to John Millman's criticism of ATP stars playing exhibitions despite complaining about hectic schedule

Taylor Fritz recently responded to John Millman's criticism of ATP stars playing exhibitions despite complaining about hectic schedules. The American also seemingly sided with Carlos Alcaraz, who was chided by fans for playing multiple exhibitions while simultaneously complaining about the heavy scheduling.

Alcaraz recently joined Iga Swiatek in complaining about the tennis schedule. Ahead of the Cincinnati Open, Swiatek had voiced her concerns about the 'crazy' calendar. The tennis world has been divided over remarks from players about the scheduling, with Jannik Sinner subtly expressing his disagreement with Alcaraz's opinion about the scheduling.

Now, former Australian tennis player Millman gave his take on the issue. He said that players playing exhibitions make it difficult to call for a shorter schedule while also pointing out that Future and Challenger tour players need the tournaments to earn money.

"There’s always been calls to have a smaller tournament schedule but it’s a hard sell when in off weeks players chase $$ exhibitions. Then you factor in those playing on future and challenger tour, who might need those “off weeks” to play and make the little money they can," Millman wrote on his X handle.

In response to Millman's comments, Taylor Fritz said that on a physical and mental level, playing a tour-level tournament was not comparable to playing an exhibition.

"I agree that its tough for the tour to shorten the schedule when players will just play Exos to fill the time, and I’ve seen a lot of people criticizing some of the players asking for a shorter season because they go and play Exos. I don’t understand that part of the argument, because playing an exo vs a tour event aren’t comparable to each other in terms of burn out — physically and especially mentally." Taylor Fritz wrote.

The US Open finalist added that playing a tour-level tournament is more mentally taxing than an exhibition match.

"A tour event can be 5+ days of playing all out and mentally being dialed in on all things on and off court, VS an exo you show up, have some fun and entertain for a match or two," he said.

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Taylor Fritz: "You don't have to push your body during exhibitions"

Taylor Fritz at the 2024 Laver Cup (Image: Getty)

Taylor Fritz explained how a tour-level match can be different from an exhibition match while sharing his thoughts on the ongoing 'hectic tennis tour' complaints. The American claimed that during exhibitions, the players faced relatively less mental and physical fatigue.

"You don’t have to all out push your body and there is absolutely 0 mental fatigue or stress. In a lot of ways an exo is a lot like a rest week and shouldn’t be compared 1:1 with a tour event," Taylor Fritz said.

John Millman agreed with Fritz and said that players had limited time to capitalize on opportunities to earn money and hence had to play exhibitions. However, he added that Tours should be financially sound enough so players are not incentivized to play exhibitions solely for the money.

"Yeah I agree with this. I have no problem with players looking to play exhibitions, especially given the limited time an athlete has to capitalise their wealth. I think it’s up to the tour to financially be able strong enough where players aren’t incentivised to chase exo’s," Millman replied.

Taylor Fritz recently played at the Laver Cup, coming up short in the deciding match against Alcaraz. Team World lost the title after winning it for two years in a row. Next, he was seen at the Japan Open, where he lost in the opening round to Arthur Fils.