It was not the outcome he wanted. And the cheers from his opponent’s box as Alexander Zverev wilted in the final set of his 4-6 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(3) 6-3 loss to Taylor Fritz on Centre Court on Day of Wimbledon? He didn’t like that either.
Zverev took time to stop Fritz at the net to tell him that he felt some (only some) members of his team were cheering too enthusiastically as Fritz rallied from two sets down to earn the biggest win of his career on Centre Court.
“Towards the end, I thought from the fourth and fifth set, I was really struggling to serve, as well, to jump off on my leg, to create some power,” Zverev said, being careful to be as diplomatic as he possibly could.
“His team is extremely respectful,” Zverev continued. “I think his coach, his physio, also his second coach, they’re extremely respectful. I think there’s some other people that maybe are in the box that are not maybe from the tennis world, that are not maybe from particularly watching every single match. They were a bit over the top.”
Zverev says no hard feelings, he just wanted to point it out.
“That’s okay. No issues. No drama,” he said. “He fought back from two sets to love, so they’re obviously all excited, very pumped up, yeah. But no issues with Taylor. I think Taylor is a great guy. I have absolutely no issues with him.”
Asked about it on court, Fritz didn’t bother to explain. He just said “It’s all good.”
It’s the second time this Wimbledon that Fritz has had a bit of drama with another player. He made waves when he told Arthur Rinderknech to have a good flight home after he defeated the Frenchman in the second round. Fritz did it because Rinderknech accused him of being whiny during their last Grand Slam meeting, at Roland-Garros in 2023.
The best part is Rinderknech tried to have a conversation with Fritz after the match while Fritz was having none of it, as he should 💅 pic.twitter.com/rBEaXhHLUW
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) July 4, 2024
Fritz calls them as he sees them, but he isn’t taking such a harsh stance with Zverev. Part of that might be due to the fact that he is over the moon after earning his first Top-5 win at a major and making his second Wimbledon quarterfinal. Life is good, why sweat the small stuff?But later in a television interview with the Tennis Channel, he did elaborate.
“I think he was a little upset about, I guess, my team members cheering for me when he was injured,” Fritz said, adding: “Whatever, it’s all good – I wasn’t wishing him a flight home.”
Taylor Fritz on the handshake moment with Sascha 🤝 pic.twitter.com/PyRDtRxCDR
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) July 8, 2024
So what do you guys think? Who’s out of line here, and why?
