Redditor asks: ‘How educated are tennis players?’ after Taylor Fritz fumbles basic math

In a Reddit post, a Redditor shared an event during the ESPY Awards where American tennis player Taylor Fritz was asked, “How much is 50 × 20?”. Unfortunately, the athlete was not able to answer the math question correctly and justified that he was a little drunk.

A similar experience recently happened in Washington, where the athlete was once again asked to multiply 80 × 20 but failed as well. This made the Redditor question: How educated are tennis players? 

The post garnered attention as it gained over 1,000 reactions and over 300 comments. Many netizens expressed their answers to the question, and the top comment reads: “I remember reading a long time ago that Alcaraz didn’t officially graduate high school. There are clips of him attending regular school classes as a teen, and later on, taking lessons at the academy where he trained, but supposedly, never officially completed school. I’m not sure how true that is, but honestly, no one really expects top tennis players or elite athletes to be formally educated. That’s usually not their priority; their excellence lies in discipline, focus, and dedication to sport and relentless hard work from a young age.” 

One redditor responded to the comment, specifically in relation to Taylor Fritz: “I mean, there are tons of formally educated people who couldn’t answer that question, not least in an interview setting where your brain can just freeze when a question that unexpected gets thrown at you… From his interviews, you can tell Fritz is plenty smart.” 

Moreover, another response expressed that Novak Djokovic can speak “every language the reporters ask a question in.” 

However, there were comments implying that answering multiplication questions should not be as difficult. One redditor remarked that this level of math is taught during elementary, and people “don’t need to graduate” to be able to get it right. This comment received a reply from another Redditor, who stated that multiplication questions are harder to answer on the spot if they are not expected, and added that no pen or paper is provided. 

A comment from one redditor also stated that he/she wants to ask these math questions to the reporters on camera to see how they can ‘quickly and accurately’ respond. “It’s hard for some people to do these kinds of things under pressure (and that’s normal and ok!),” the comment concluded. 

“I’m a college graduate, and I can’t do math on demand like this. It would take me a minute to think about it and break it down. Some people are better at other things. It’s not necessarily about being educated,” another Redditor admitted.