LONDON – If Taylor Fritz is consistent, he should be genuinely pleased after reading what Arthur Rinderknech told L’Equipe, just before the two tennis players face each other for a place in the third round of Wimbledon.
“My friend Taylor! The atmosphere will be calmer and he will cry a little less this time, I think,” told the Frenchman to journalist Quentin Moynet during Wednesday afternoon in London.
Rinderknech does not forget when Fritz shushed the Suzanne Lenglen crowd after he knocked him out of Roland Garros 2023.
That time the French fans harassed Fritz throughout the match. It was the 2021 Indian Wells champion who in that edition erased the last Frenchman in competition and prolonged the local sorrows in Bois du Bologne.
“I love you guys!” then shouted Taylor Fritz with an altered gesture and tons of irony while the booing made it impossible to hear anything.
“He complained a little that time saying it was too loud for him. I have nothing against him, but if he expected the French crowd to give him kisses between points, he was in the wrong place. He beat me, bravo for him,” Rinderknech said with irony.
The preview got spicy, reason enough to make the world number 12 happy. Why? Because Fritz likes drama in tennis.
In late 2022 in an interview with CLAY, the top American tennis player stated: “Tennis needs younger audiences and what attracts people my age is drama. Whenever players have some kind of beef, maybe they don’t like each other, people are much more interested when they play.”
“I get along with everyone. In that sense, it’s tough, because I recognize perfectly well that it’s better to attract a younger audience,” he said back then.
The North American is now counting on a share of drama to drag a little more attention the his second round match.
