World No. 12 Taylor Fritz made sure to let Arthur Rinderknech hear it after overcoming the Frenchman at Wimbledon, telling him to "have a nice flight home."
After beating Kei Nishikori to set up a Wimbledon second-round meeting versus Fritz, world No. 76 Rinderknech took a shot at the American related to their tense 2023 French Open match. In his comments, Rinderknech took exception with how Fritz "whined" about the French Open crowd's behavior during their match.
And Rinderknech throwing shots at Fritz before their Wimbledon match quickly made the headlines.
"The atmosphere will be quieter (than at Roland-Garros) and he won't cry as much. He whined a bit saying it was too noisy. I hold no grudge against him, but he was wrong if he thought the French crowd would send him kisses in between points," Rinderknech told Quentin Moynet of L'Equipe before the match.
Fritz had something for Rinderknech after beating him at Wimbledon
After reading about Rinderknech's comments, Fritz came out determined to get the job done and he managed to do so after completing a 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-4 win.
"Have a nice flight home," Fritz told Rinderknech after sealing a win over the Frenchman.
But it didn't there as Fritz asked Rinderknech: "You know what you did?"
Rinderknech responded: "I know what I did?"
And the American wasn't having none of that, telling the Frenchman: "Yeah, you know what you did."
Later in his press conference, Fritz explained why he acted in such a way after improving to 2-0 in his head-to-head versus Rinderknech.
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,'" Fritz said.
Meanwhile, Fritz plays Alejandro Tabilo in the Wimbledon third round.
