Taylor Fritz told his Wimbledon opponent, Arthur Rinderknech, to “have a nice flight home” after beating him in their second-round match on Thursday.
Fritz was involved in a heated French Open clash with the Frenchman Rinderknech at Roland Garros last year, in which he shushed the rowdy home crowd after winning match point and was booed for minutes afterwards.
Rinderknech made reference to the match ahead of their Wimbledon meeting, and said in comments reported by French media: “The atmosphere will be quieter and he won’t cry as much.”
The pair got into a bit of a back-and-forth at the net after the 13th-seeded American’s 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-4 victory at the All England Club.
Fritz exchanged some words with Rinderknech after his win
Fritz revealed he had “extra fire” and motivation to beat the Frenchman after hearing his comments.
“I’m a very chill person. I don’t do anything that could rub people the wrong way, so when someone kind of just goes out of their way to take a shot at me, then I’m not just going to take it,” said Fritz. “It gave me the extra fire to win.”
So when it was time for the post-match handshake Thursday, there were some words exchanged. “I just said, ‘have a nice flight home’,” Fritz recounted.
According to Fritz, Rinderknech responded by pointing out that he’s still around in doubles. “I said, ‘oh, congrats. Good for you.’ Then he started acting like, ‘why are you blah, blah, blah?’ I’m like, ‘dude, you know what you said’.
“Don’t disrespect me before the match and then expect me to be all nice after the match,” said Fritz, who will take on 24th-seeded Alejandro Tabilo of Chile on Saturday for a spot in the fourth round. “That’s not how it works.”
Fritz won their 2023 French Open contest in front of a rowdy partisan crowd, which he shushed afterwards
Fritz said it was hard not to see Rinderknech’s comments, which were posted on social media before their meeting at the All England Club.
“It’s tough not to [see the comments] when someone goes out of their way to take a jab at you. It’s tough not to see it because everyone is just going to tag me and make sure I see it,” he said.
“As soon as I saw it, the match was basically over.”
Nick Kyrgios took to social media to say: “This is what the sport needs @Taylor_Fritz97 cheeky…”
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