Taylor Fritz reveals biting five-word comment for Arthur Rinderknech at Wimbledon

Arthur Rinderknech should have just let it go but couldn't. Maybe he thought he was standing up for his country, but he went too far. He had to know that Taylor Fritz would notice the Frenchman's silly comments ahead of their Wimbledon match.

The issue began at the 2023 French Open. American Fritz was playing was playing Rinderknech. The home crowd was firmly behind the Frenchman, but spectator reaction was a bit too over the top for Fritaz's liking. After the American won the match in four sets, he sarcastically told the audience, "I love you guys. The crowd was just so great that I had to let it fire me up. They cheered so well for me, I wanted to make sure I won. Thanks."

Possibly had that situation occurred in this year's French Open and then only a month later Fritz and Rinderknech were meeting again at a match at Wimbledon, the Frenchman might have had a bit more leeway in making some snarky comments about Fritz. Instead, over a year had passed since their French Open face-off so Rinderknech probably should have just bygones be, well...bygones.

Taylor Fritz slaps back at Arthur Rinderknech's comments at Wimbledon

He couldn't. Speaking to the press ahead of their second-round meeting on Thursday, Rinderknech said of Fritz, "I hold no grudge against him but he was wrong if he thought the crowd would send him kisses in between points." He should have taken the classy way out but chose to insult Fritz instead.

The American won the two players' second-round meeting in four sets, but the fun began at the net after the match. While shaking hands, Fritz told Rinderknech, "Have a good flight home."

In a post-match press conference, Fritz expanded on the situation saying, "It just gives me extra fire, obviously. I’m a very chill person. 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’."

Rinderknech seemed confused, according to Fritz, by what was said at the net. Since the Frenchman waited a year to espouse some negativity about Fritz, one can safely assume he would not have forgotten what he said about the American prior to their Wimbledon meeting. His seeming confusion felt out of place.

Fritz added about the post-match meeting at the net, "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."

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