Taylor Fritz’s upside-down BOSS headband goes viral after Djokovic clash: “Why did nobody tell me?”

NEW YORK—The signs were there for Taylor Fritz on Tuesday evening against Novak Djokovic—only the message was backwards.

The American had social media buzzing after he stepped onto Arthur Ashe Stadium for his US Open quarterfinal match wearing his BOSS headband upside-down.

👉 Read More: Novak Djokovic defeats Taylor Fritz to improve to 14-0 in his career in US Open quarterfinals

Fritz, the No. 4 seed, completed the tunnel walk, a pre-match interview with ESPN, the coin toss and photos at the net with Djokovic—all with his headband reading “SSOB.”

The moment quickly went viral, clipped and shared by sports accounts, and Fritz joined in afterward, wondering why no one told him sooner.

“Yo why’d nobody tell me that shit was backwards,” Fritz wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the match, which ended in a 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 defeat to No. 7 seed Djokovic.

👉 Read More: Morgan Riddle recalls being nearly kidnapped, electrocuted and more travel horror stories

Posts about the headband dominated social media, even reaching Fritz’s girlfriend Morgan Riddle.

The influencer took to TikTok to support him, commenting: “Bless his soul, that’s my man” on a post featuring a scene from Mean Girls (2004) where Amanda Seyfried’s character writes the letter “K” backwards.

Fritz’s sponsor, BOSS, also joined the fun, the German fashion brand commenting, “Still a BOSS, no matter what the angle.”

BOSS also shared an Instagram Story to its 12.3 million followers featuring an image of Fritz with his upside-down headband, captioned: “When things turn on their head. Literally. Bosses get back up. Now onto the next Taylor! #SSOB”

Fritz eventually fixed the headband, which was right-side-up by the fourth set, but he couldn’t turn things around in his 11th meeting with the 24-time Grand Slam champion.

“I think he gave me a lot more mistakes than he normally does and gave me a lot more looks. I wasn’t doing much, and I was getting all those breakpoint chances the first two sets,” Fritz told press after the match.

“At the end of the day, that’s one of the things that makes the great players great. They win the big points… I’m going to need to go out and take those points from him. He’s not just going to hand them over to me.”

Fritz, the last American standing in the draw and last year’s US Open finalist, slipped to 0-11 against Djokovic. The Serbian also gave fans something to talk about after the win, celebrating with dance moves inspired by Netflix’s Kpop Demon Hunters.

👉 Read More: Novak Djokovic does ‘KPop Demon Hunters' celebration at US Open for daughter's birthday

Djokovic now moves on to face Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals, while Fritz leaves the US Open with one of the tournament's most viral moments.