{"id":36012,"date":"2025-07-25T09:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T09:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/36012\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T09:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T09:56:07","slug":"tennis-under-the-influencers-by-ben-rothenberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/36012\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis, Under the Influencers – by Ben Rothenberg"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 In his week between playing in Wimbledon and Washington, Taylor Fritz went home to California and attended the ESPYs for the first time. <\/p>\n

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 an Akatsuki cloud from Naruto, encrusted with red and white diamonds. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of athletes know what it means; athletes are kind of into anime and stuff,\u201d Fritz said. \u201cSo I thought, \u2018Oh, it’s cool, a lot of people will get it.\u2019 I\u2019d 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Taylor Fritz on The ESPYs\u2019 red carpet last week in Los Angeles. (Photo Nina Prommer\/ZUMA Press Wire); detail below. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fritz was photographed in his chain on the ESPYs red carpet and elsewhere during that night. <\/p>\n

But in what wound up being Fritz\u2019s 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAin\u2019t no way,\u201d fellow American Top 10er Ben Shelton wrote in the comments of AlfredoPastaDon\u2019s Instagram post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The video surfaced after Fritz was already in Washington, where he\u2019s the top seed. When I asked him about it after his first round win, he giggled like I\u2019ve never heard him giggling before.<\/p>\n

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: I saw a video on social media today of you trying to multiply\u2014<\/p>\n

Taylor Fritz: [copious giggles] <\/p>\n

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: You know what I’m talking about, 50 by 20.<\/p>\n

Taylor Fritz: Yeah. <\/p>\n

Ben Rothenberg, Bounces: I don’t know how you wound up in that situation or what was going on.<\/p>\n

Taylor Fritz: Yeah, I\u2019ll explain\u2026<\/p>\n

To read the rest of this story, hear Taylor Fritz\u2019s 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\u2014and to see if Fritz passed a follow-up multiplication challenge\u2014please subscribe to Bounces! -Ben<\/p>\n

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