Taylor Fritz takes aim at ATP with angry comments after Rune's brutal injury

Monday, 20 October 2025 at 13:58

byErik Virostko

Holger Rune suffered a heartbreaking injury at the 2025 Stockholm Open, and many of his colleagues were quick to call out the ATP in response.

Rune returned to the Top 10 on the ATP Tour thanks to his run to the Stockholm Open semi-finals, but he won't have a chance to improve on it anytime soon. In fact, the young Dane will have to start almost from zero. He will miss at least six months after having to undergo surgery because of his Achilles injury.

In recent months, players' complains about the current tennis calendar being too long have become loud again. Rune's injury made those even louder, as Jack Draper took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his thoughts after the Danish player left the court in Stockholm in tears.

Draper himself is currently away from the tennis courts, ending his 2025 season early. He is also one of the players who have struggled with injuries a lot, which is why he chose to react after Rune's injury. Draper called out the ATP, saying more players will be getting injured if nothing changes.

"Injuries are going to happen… we are pushing our bodies to do things they aren’t supposed to in elite sport. We have so many incredible younger guys on the tour right now and I’m proud to be apart of that, however, the tour and the calendar have to adapt if any of us are gonna achieve some sort of longevity…"

Taylor Fritz immediately noticed Draper's post and was quick to respond to it. The American player spoke about the issue in more detail, explaining how the changes in ball and court speeds make it difficult for players to avoid injuries.

"Facts, also seeing more injuries and burnout now than ever before because balls, courts, conditions have slowed down a lot making the weekly grind even more physically demanding and tough on the body."

Many of the fans responded to Fritz's complains, and the American was ready to respond. One of the fans argued that the courts were actually becoming faster. The American No. 1 explained that the balls in use make much more difference than the courts.

"Balls make a much bigger difference on how fast the court plays than the actual court speed. Shanghai last year had a very high CPI but the slow balls we used made it play slow. This year the balls were still slow and they also slowed the courts and it was brutal. I can say with certainty every ball we play with consistently, with the exception of the US Open ball that is used for Toronto, Cincinnati, US Open is much slower and more dead compared to when I started my career."

"A lot of people struggle to differentiate between slow ball / slow court. It’s only something I have picked up in recent years. It’s easy to play with a slow ball and just think the court is slow when maybe it’s not, and vice versa."

"A good example of this is that I heard someone play tested the ball for Shanghai prior to the Shanghai event and said it was a fast ball, and that is one of the reasons Shanghai slowed the court down. I can assure you whoever play tested the ball did so on a lightning-fast court and couldn’t differentiate the two, so they thought the ball was fast."

One of the fans also called out Fritz regarding his schedule, saying that he can't complain about the calendar if he chooses to play as much as he has recently. However, Fritz explained that he had to play all the tournaments he played because of the new ATP rule.

"Ya, because of a new ATP rule, I've had to play every 500 event post Wimbledon to meet the new quota they have set of 500’s played in a year to not get a ranking penalty. Also, it’s funny because the Laver Cup is 3 days, and so is this event. I’ve played 2 events for a total of 5 singles matches and 6 days total. Idk why we are acting like playing one of these events is the same as playing 5/6 matches over 2 weeks?"

It's clear that tennis players are currently unhappy with the conditions in which they have to compete. It will be interesting to see whether the ATP responds by improving based on the players' feedback.