"Wow, you get paid to lose? Maybe I should become a professional tennis player" - Fritz speaks on the misconceptions people have about tennis players

Taylor Fritz recently gave a candid interview to Resident magazine's 'The Style' issue, discussing various aspects of life as an elite professional player on the tennis circuit.

One of the biggest misconceptions that people have about tennis players, he said, is that they make money after losing in the early rounds of big tournaments. Fritz stated that some people believe that they should become tennis players to make easy money.

The American said that while players do get paid even for first-round exits, it takes a huge amount of work and sacrifices to reach the world rankings to be given direct entry into the main draw of big tournaments.

"I guess the other big misconception is that we get paid to lose," Fritz said. "While we do make money even if we don't win, we have to rank at the top of the sport to even be in the big tournaments. I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say, 'Wow, you get paid to lose? I should become a professional tennis player.'

"I know they don't mean any harm. But it takes hard work and sacrifice to rank high enough to "get paid to lose" and for the record, as professional athletes, none of us is in this sport wants to lose."

Further detailing the difficult schedule, the 2022 Indian Wells Masters champion said the players are traveling year-round and rarely have time to travel back home in between tournaments.

"I think people have a lot of misconceptions about professional tennis. The season is almost year-round, and we are playing tournaments every week. The big tournaments get the coverage, but we are not just sitting home in- between," he added.