By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, July 4, 2024
Photo credit: Daniel Kopatsch/Getty
Some things are better left unsaid.
Taunt Taylor Fritz as a whiner, and you’re not coming out a winner as Arthur Rinderknech learned today at Wimbledon.
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In a rematch of a contentious 2023 Roland Garros clash, Fritz defeated Rinderknech 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to reach the Wimbledon third round today following the Frenchman boldly trash-talking.
Afterward, Fritz said this match was over before it began.
That’s because Rinderknech ripped Fritz as a whiner for his complaints about vocal French fans during that 2023 French Open clash.
In remarks to journalist Quentin Moynet Rinderknech jabbed Fritz saying he hoped the American wouldn’t “cry as much” during this SW19 rematch.
“It’s tough not to see it because everyone is just going to, like, tag me and make sure I see it,” Fritz said of the pre-match trash talk. “As soon as I saw it, the match was basically over.”
Rinderknech avant d’affronter Fritz : “L’ambiance sera plus calme (qu’à Roland en 2023) et il va un peu moins pleurer. Il avait un peu chouiné. Je n’ai rien contre lui, mais s’il s’attendait à ce que le public français lui fasse des bisous entre les points, il était mal tombé.”
— Quentin Moynet (@QuentinMoynet) July 3, 2024
“[Fritz] won’t cry as much. He whined a bit saying it was too noisy,” Rinderknech said in comments to Moynet. “I hold no grudge against him but he was wrong if he thought the crowd would send him kisses in between points.”
Former Indian Wells champion said those remarks lit his competitive fire sparking the emphatic response.
Fourth of July emotional fireworks continued after the match ended.
When the feuding foes shook hands following Fritz’s two hour, 17-minute win on No. 12 court, the American delivered the verbal parting shot.
“Have a nice flight home,” Fritz said he told Rinderknech.
“It just gives me extra fire, obviously. I’m a very chill person,” Fritz told the media at Wimbledon. “I, like, 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. It gave me the extra fire to win.
“When we shook hands, I just said, Have a nice flight home. He asked me what I said. I told him what I said. He told me he was in doubles still.”
Ultimately, Fritz said his message for Rinderknech is simple: if you’re going to deliver disrespect,…
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