The handshake was quite cool at the end of the Fritz – Rinderknech match, lost by the latter (6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4). The American, who had pointed a vengeful finger at the Frenchman, heaving a big sigh of disappointment on his chair afterwards, would recount the scene at a press conference. “When we shook hands, I simply said: ‘Welcome back home’. He asked me what I had said. I repeated it to him. He told me he was still in doubles. ‘Oh, congratulations, good for you.’ Then he asked me: ‘Why are you like that?’ and I replied: ‘Dude, you know what you said. Don’t disrespect me before the match and don’t expect me to be nice after the match. That’s not how it works.'”
The reason was a phrase spoken the day before by Rinderknech in response to a question about the heated match the two men had played last year at Roland-Garros. (“Taylor will cry a little less this time. He had whined a little, saying that there was a little too much noise for him. I have nothing against him, but he expected the French public to kiss him between points, he had a bad time… He had beaten me, well done to him.”)
Reverberated on social networks, translated into English, the remarks, which were not intended to be provocative in the tone of the conversation, gave rise to controversy.
“It was synthesized into three lines taken out of context on social networks”
“I was in a very good mood, it’s something I said in a good-natured, good-natured way,” explained Rinderknech after his defeat. “I didn’t criticize the guy in any way, it came out on social media as if I was the big bad wolf waiting for him. I just said that in Paris, he complained that there was too much noise. He’s the kind of player who knows tennis, who has experienced great matches on big courts with a big crowd. If he wants to play in cathedral silence…
It was summarized in three lines taken out of context on the networks. You might think that I have something against him when I have nothing against him. I took a lot of flak. But if I were him, I would have been annoyed by the player in front of me. While I had a lot of respect for his victory at Roland Garros, saying that he had been very strong. I was only saying that at Wimbledon, there would not be the same crowd and that he would not be bothered by so much noise. I have great respect for the player, for his career, for his victories against me.
Rinderknech “sad of defeat”
The Frenchman was sincerely marked and frustrated by this story of shortcuts. While the American had used it to motivate himself to the extreme. “As soon as I saw his sentence, the match was over,” he said in a press conference to say that he was sure of winning. It gives me energy. I am a very calm person. I do nothing that could offend people, so when someone goes out of their way to attack me, I am not going to just accept it. It gave me the sacred fire to win. “
Looking back on the match that he had lost for many reasons, good and bad, Arthur Rinderknech seemed very affected once again. “If you look at the match, there is not a big difference in the level of play,” he concluded. “He knew how to tighten up the game when it was necessary. It proves that I have the ability to upset these players of this level. It also illustrates that I have progress to make in my self-esteem over the course of a match. I am capable of competing, but I do not do so over the course of the match. I am sad about the defeat…”
2024-07-04 20:47:28
#tense #match #Wimbledon #Rinderknech #Fritz
