Morgan Riddle, the girlfriend of Netflix Break Point star Taylor Fritz, has taken the tennis world by storm since she began dating the American in 2020. Riddle has helped bring the sport to the masses through her social media channels, especially TikTok.
What people might not know is that she has no background in tennis at all.
“I didn’t know a thing. Literally not a thing. I knew who Federer was. I didn’t even know who Nadal was. That’s not a joke,” Riddle told ATPTour.com. “I literally didn’t know anything about it. But I know a lot now. I would consider myself a tennis expert at this point, I really would.”
Riddle is from Minnesota where she grew up with another sport: hockey.
“My whole family plays hockey. My sister played college hockey, my dad played college hockey,” Riddle said. “It was very different going to tennis matches from that. Hockey games you show up in boots and a sweatshirt and you drink beer. It’s a very different atmosphere than tennis is.”
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The social media influencer was a lifestyle contributor before she began dating Fritz. Riddle would create content including gift guide roundups for outlets including NBC Boston and NBC Chicago Today. She has enjoyed helping Fritz push tennis further into the mainstream, something they hope Break Point will accomplish.
“I always thought it was pretty exciting. Since Taylor and I first started dating one of the things he’s always said to me is that pretty much his main goal besides being a top player obviously is to make tennis more popular in the U.S. Honestly anything that we can do to work towards that,” Riddle said. “I have kind of helped him a bit with that or been on board with his mission to do that, so I think the show will just enforce that. Hopefully, we’ll see.”
According to Riddle, people who grow up playing or watching tennis understand things like scoring and etiquette as second nature. For someone like her who a few years ago did not know anything about the sport, there was a learning curve.
“Like making noise or clapping between a first serve and second serve. If I’m going to my first-ever tennis match, how am I going to know that?” Riddle said. “I didn’t, so I had to pick up on those little etiquette things that are really impossible to know if you’ve never been to a tournament or you’ve never watched a tennis match in your life.
“Those were probably the first things that I picked up. Then learning the scoring system, 30-Love, 15, what does that mean? I had no idea. That itself took me like a month. I was really confused.”
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There are even week-to-week aspects of life on Tour to get used to. Not every tournament is the same and the atmosphere could be different.
“Some tournaments are more casual, but that’s like night and day from what Wimbledon is,” Riddle said. “It’s a different experience from most popular American sports.”
Another thing Riddle has learned is how many highs and lows the sport has. Last season was the best of Fritz’s career, winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells and qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, but every week only one singles player and one doubles team lifts the trophy.
“[He gets over the tough moments] pretty quickly. You have to. You can’t really hang onto it. Obviously, if he loses a bad match to someone he wasn’t supposed to lose to, he’ll kind of mope around for the rest of the night,” Riddle said. “But you’ve got to get to practice the next morning, so you can’t really let it dwell on you for too long. I think players need to have a pretty good bounceback from disappointment or losses because otherwise they’re just going to be miserable all the time.”
What should fans know about Fritz off the court that they might learn about the American in Break Point?
“He likes playing golf, he is very confident. For how shy he is, he’s very, very confident in who he is, his game and his ability and potential,” Riddle said.
She added: “He’s quite shy, quite introverted, definitely a homebody.
“You can still see it sometimes, even in press and stuff. You can see how shy he is. I think you’ll be able to tell in the show he’s a little more introverted than most, but it’s endearing in a way, too.”
What people might not know is that she has no background in tennis at all.
“I didn’t know a thing. Literally not a thing. I knew who Federer was. I didn’t even know who Nadal was. That’s not a joke,” Riddle told ATPTour.com. “I literally didn’t know anything about it. But I know a lot now. I would consider myself a tennis expert at this point, I really would.”
Riddle is from Minnesota where she grew up with another sport: hockey.
“My whole family plays hockey. My sister played college hockey, my dad played college hockey,” Riddle said. “It was very different going to tennis matches from that. Hockey games you show up in boots and a sweatshirt and you drink beer. It’s a very different atmosphere than tennis is.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]
The social media influencer was a lifestyle contributor before she began dating Fritz. Riddle would create content including gift guide roundups for outlets including NBC Boston and NBC Chicago Today. She has enjoyed helping Fritz push tennis further into the mainstream, something they hope Break Point will accomplish.
“I always thought it was pretty exciting. Since Taylor and I first started dating one of the things he’s always said to me is that pretty much his main goal besides being a top player obviously is to make tennis more popular in the U.S. Honestly anything that we can do to work towards that,” Riddle said. “I have kind of helped him a bit with that or been on board with his mission to do that, so I think the show will just enforce that. Hopefully, we’ll see.”
According to Riddle, people who grow up playing or watching tennis understand things like scoring and etiquette as second nature. For someone like her who a few years ago did not know anything about the sport, there was a learning curve.
“Like making noise or clapping between a first serve and second serve. If I’m going to my first-ever tennis match, how am I going to know that?” Riddle said. “I didn’t, so I had to pick up on those little etiquette things that are really impossible to know if you’ve never been to a tournament or you’ve never watched a tennis match in your life.
“Those were probably the first things that I picked up. Then learning the scoring system, 30-Love, 15, what does that mean? I had no idea. That itself took me like a month. I was really confused.”
[ATP APP]
There are even week-to-week aspects of life on Tour to get used to. Not every tournament is the same and the atmosphere could be different.
“Some tournaments are more casual, but that’s like night and day from what Wimbledon is,” Riddle said. “It’s a different experience from most popular American sports.”
Another thing Riddle has learned is how many highs and lows the sport has. Last season was the best of Fritz’s career, winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells and qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, but every week only one singles player and one doubles team lifts the trophy.
“[He gets over the tough moments] pretty quickly. You have to. You can’t really hang onto it. Obviously, if he loses a bad match to someone he wasn’t supposed to lose to, he’ll kind of mope around for the rest of the night,” Riddle said. “But you’ve got to get to practice the next morning, so you can’t really let it dwell on you for too long. I think players need to have a pretty good bounceback from disappointment or losses because otherwise they’re just going to be miserable all the time.”
What should fans know about Fritz off the court that they might learn about the American in Break Point?
“He likes playing golf, he is very confident. For how shy he is, he’s very, very confident in who he is, his game and his ability and potential,” Riddle said.
She added: “He’s quite shy, quite introverted, definitely a homebody.
“You can still see it sometimes, even in press and stuff. You can see how shy he is. I think you’ll be able to tell in the show he’s a little more introverted than most, but it’s endearing in a way, too.”