Taylor Fritz vs. Arthur Rinderknech at the 2023 French Open was one of the more contentious matches of last year’s tennis season.
There was not any particularly bad blood between the two competitors, but the French fans–in typical French fans fashion–made sure to get behind their home player. And when it comes to said fans, support for the home team is not much different from cheering against the visitor.
In this case it was Fritz who drew the ire of the Parisian crowd. Although the fans did, in fact, succeed in riling him up, it wasn’t nearly enough. The American recovered from a slow start to defeat Rinderknech 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. He silenced the fans both literally and figuratively, as afterward he put a finger to his lips and then mockingly thanked them in an extremely brief on-court interview.
“You’ve got to be brave to do that and the French might not forget that,” Eurosport commentator Barry Cowan said at the time.
At least one Frenchman didn’t forget. Rinderknech.
The rematch came in the second round of Wimbledon on Thursday, before which the Frenchman was asked about what he expected to take place.
“He won’t cry as much,” the 28-year-old 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.”
In this age of social media, Fritz immediately caught wind of those comments.
“Normally I don’t,” the 12th-ranked player in the world answered when asked if he generally 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.”
It didn’t take long for it to be literally over. Rinderknech managed to takes one set after dropping the first two, but the outcome was never in doubt. Fritz rolled–again–to a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory.
As early anticipated, there was a not-so-friendly exchange at the net when it ended.
Fritz, in his press conference: “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 this week at the All-England Club is the games of the American men. Four of the top five Americans are still in the men’s singles draw. Of that quintet, only Sebastian Korda is out. Fritz, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul, and Frances Tiafoe all advanced to the round of 32.
Shelton joined them there on Thursday by beating Lloyd 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(10-7). It was Shelton’s second consecutive five-set victory on Court 18, having previously overcome 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.
