There was fire on the square!
Taylor Fritz (26) beat Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech (28) 6:3, 6:4, 3:6, 6:4 in the second round of Wimbledon. The highlight of the match, however, came after the match point. The American said to his opponent at the net: “Have a safe flight home!”
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Source: BILD05.07.2024
It sounds arrogant and mean at first glance, but it has a history. Rinderknech had given Fritz a beating before the game. It was about the match between the two at the 2023 French Open, which Fritz also won.
It shouldn’t have surprised him that the crowd at Roland Garros was against him. The fans in Paris are the most unfair on the tour when it comes to supporting their own man. Fritz told them that with gestures like putting his finger on his mouth.
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Rinderknech in Wimbledon before the match against Fritz: “The atmosphere will be calmer than in Paris 2023 and he will cry a little less. He was a bit whiny there. I have nothing against him, but if he expected the French crowd to blow him kisses between points, then that was bad timing.”
Fritz savored his victory two days after Rinderknech’s comments. “It’s hard not to be motivated when someone is obviously making an effort to take a swipe at you. It’s hard not to see it because everyone just tags me and makes sure I see it. When I saw it, it was basically game over,” says the boyfriend of influencer Morgan Riddle (26).
First in attack mode, then Arthur Rinderknech had to take a lot of punishment
Photo: ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP
Fritz is usually not a man of loud tones, his sonorous voice is more solemn than resoundingly loud. But this time it practically bubbles out of him: “I’m a very relaxed person. I don’t do anything that could get people riled up. So if someone goes to the trouble of attacking me, I don’t just accept it. That gave me the extra incentive to win.”
He openly admitted the remark at the net: “When we shook hands, I just said: ‘Have a safe flight home!'” This in turn annoyed Rinderknech, who went back to Fritz on the bench. “He asked me what I had said. He told me he was still in the doubles. I said: ‘Oh, congratulations, good for you.’ Then he started behaving as if he wanted to say: ‘Why are you like that?'”
Influencer Morgan Riddle is Taylor Fritz’s girlfriend
Foto: Getty Images for AELTC
That really got Fritz mad: “I say, ‘Dude, you know what you said. Don’t treat me disrespectfully before the game and then don’t expect me to be nice after the game. That’s not how it works.'”
There will probably be radio silence between the two for now. Until the next duel on the tour.
2024-07-05 11:23:50
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