Taylor Fritz battling 'tough' US Open problem worsened by four rival players
World no. 4 Taylor Fritz has admitted he finds it tough not getting the courts he wants to play on at the US Open due to the tournament having made a scheduling change
Taylor Fritz has admitted that being on the same side of the US Open draw as Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, and Francis Tiafoe has hindered him schedule-wise during the tournament.
Flushing Meadows is currently playing host to the fourth and final Grand Slam of 2025, with the biggest talking point so far being Jelena Ostapenko's outburst at the net following her defeat to Taylor Townsend. Meanwhile, in the men's draw, Fritz booked his place in the third round after beating South Africa's Lloyd Harris 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-2, 6-4.
The world No. 4 is looking to go one better this year after he made the final in 2024, only to lose to Jannik Sinner in straight sets. However, to do so, he will need to come through the half of the draw featuring Djokovic, Alcaraz, Shelton, and Tiafoe, which poses a daunting prospect.
With the Louis Armstrong Stadium now only hosting two matches a day instead of three, it has led to plenty of scheduling changes during the tournament.
As a result, there have been fewer courts in use during the opening stages of the tournament, and a lot of crowded courts. It has also meant the likes of Fritz have not necessarily been given the courts or times that they have wanted to play on.
Speaking to reporters, Fritz admitted the players have discussed amongst themselves the issues the scheduling has made, adding it makes his life even harder when factoring in who is on his side of the draw.
"Yeah, absolutely," said Fritz.
"There's a lot less time slots. Then it doesn't help I'm on the same side of the draw as Novak, Carlos, Ben, Frances. It makes it way harder than you would think for being the No. 1 American playing the US Open to actually play when you want to play. It's very tough.
"Rightfully so with all the people that are such a big draw in my half of the draw. That's the way it is. And I don't really mind so much, I guess, when I play, as long as it's not first.
"The big thing that we've kind of been dealing with these first two rounds is just, like, I just want to know ahead of time so I can schedule practice.
Fritz added: "I was told potentially the schedule is going to be coming out, and I was going to be second night match 30 minutes before my practice at 1:00 p.m. yesterday.
"I was, like, That's cool, I'll play that. I'm down to play that time, but I need to know so I can practice at night. It's a really big difference, you know.
"That's kind of my only complaint. There's, like I said, different time slots, a lot of people. I know I'm not going to always get the time that I want with just how all the people that need to play. But, yeah, I just would like to know so I can prepare on the day off."