Taylor Fritz vs. Arthur Rinderknech at the French Open was one of the more contentious matches of the 2023 tennis season.
There was not any particularly bad blood between the two competitors, but the French crowd–in typical French crowd fashion–made sure to get behind its home player. And when it comes to the fans at Roland Garros, “getting behind their home player” really means “doing whatever they can to get under the opponent’s skin.”
Although the crowd that night succeeded in riling up Fritz, it wasn’t enough. The American battled back from a slow start to silence the Parisian fans with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory. And Fritz was sure to let them know about it afterward, putting his finger to his lips and then giving them mock thanks in an extremely brief on-court interview.
“You’ve got to be brave to do that and the French might not forget that,” said Eurosport commentator Barry Cowan.
At least one Frenchman didn’t forget: Rinderknech.
The rematch took place during second-round action at Wimbledon on Thursday afternoon, before which Rinderknech was asked about what he expected to take place.
“He won’t cry as much,” the former Texas A&M standout said of Fritz. “He whined a bit saying it was too noisy. I hold no grudge against him but he was wrong if he thought the crowd would send him kisses in between points.”
Unsurprisingly, Fritz caught wind of those comments.
“Normally I don’t,” the world No. 12 said when asked if he listens to that kind of stuff. “But it’s tough not to when obviously someone kind of…I guess goes out of their way to take a jab at you. It’s tough not to see it because everyone is just going to, like, tag me and make sure I see it.
“It just gives me extra fire, obviously. 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. It gave me the extra fire to win.
“As soon as I saw it, the match was basically over.”
Although it didn’t take too long for it to be literally over, Rinderknech at least managed to be somewhat competitive. The underdog took the third set to make things interesting, but Fritz was way too good–again–and prevailed 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
There was an extended, not-so-friendly exchange at the net and near the umpire’s chair when it ended.
“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. 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. You know what you said.’ Don’t disrespect me before the match and then expect me to be all nice after the match. That’s not how it works.”
What has been working in London is the games of the USA men. Four of the top five Americans are still alive in the Wimbledon men’s singles draw. Of that group, only Sebastian Korda is out. Fritz, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton, and Frances Tiafoe are all through to the last 32.
Shelton joined them there on Thursday by battling to a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(10-7) victory over Lloyd Harris. It was Shelton’s second five-set victory in two rounds of this tournament, having previously defeated Mattia Bellucci 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
For Fritz and Shelton, it was a very happy July 4 across the pond. And–unlike Rinderknech–their flights home are not yet booked.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.
