Tennis, Under the Influencers

Taylor Fritz's wins are adding up in Washington, but maybe don't ask him to multiply.

WASHINGTON — In his week between playing in Wimbledon and Washington, Taylor Fritz went home to California and attended the ESPYs for the first time.

Fresh off his run to the semifinals at Wimbledon, the highest-ranked American man was in a celebratory mood at the award show, and was excited to show off a new piece of jewelry at the multisport meet-up: a pendant of the Akatsuki cloud from Naruto, encrusted with red and white diamonds.

“I think a lot of athletes know what it means; athletes are kind of into anime and stuff,” Fritz said. “So I thought, ‘Oh, it's cool, a lot of people will get it.’ I’d wanted to get a pendant for a really long time, and I just had no clue what to get. That was the one symbol that clicked in my head. It was, like, unique and cool to me.”

Taylor Fritz on The ESPYs’ red carpet last week in Los Angeles. (Photo Nina Prommer/ZUMA Press Wire); detail below.

Fritz was photographed in his chain on the ESPYs red carpet and elsewhere during that night.

But in what wound up being Fritz’s most watched moment from that night, the Naruto chain was no longer visible. Instead, what was suddenly on display for the world was his less-than-sparkling drunk multiplication skills, as set up by a street interviewer calling himself AlfredoPastaDon.

“Ain’t no way,” fellow American Top 10er Ben Shelton wrote in the comments of AlfredoPastaDon’s Instagram post.

The video surfaced after Fritz was already in Washington, where he’s the top seed. When I asked him about it after his first round win, he giggled like I’ve never heard him giggling before.

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: I saw a video on social media today of you trying to multiply—

Taylor Fritz: [copious giggles]

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: You know what I'm talking about, 50 by 20.

Taylor Fritz: Yeah.

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: I don't know how you wound up in that situation or what was going on.

Taylor Fritz: Yeah, I’ll explain…

To read the rest of this story, hear Taylor Fritz’s giggles and explanation, and read further thoughts from players including Shelton and Frances Tiafoe, both clowning Fritz and on the growing role of influencer-made content in tennis social media—and to see if Fritz passed a follow-up multiplication challenge—please subscribe to Bounces! -Ben