Taylor Fritz insists his extended exchange with Alexander Zverev after their Wimbledon R16 match was no big deal and he explained what actually bothered German.
The ATP #13 at one point appeared to be heading to a soft exit after going two sets to one down against Zverev but he came from behind to eventually seal the match in five sets with a score of 4-6, 6(4)-7, 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-3. Following the traditional post-match handshake, Zverev was seen having a lengthy exchange with fellow big serving star and at one point pulled him back to continue the conversation.
In the post-match press conference, Fritz revealed that the World #4 was annoyed by some of the people in his box as he also made a mention of Zverev’s limping as the match went to distance.
“At the net, like, it’s no big deal. I think he felt that he was for parts, I guess towards the end of the fifth at least, kind of limping around a bit. I think he was annoyed at some people in my box just being loud, cheering for me,” he said.
“Honestly, I can’t hear. I don’t know. Like, no big deal. He said it’s nothing towards me or anything like that.
“I mean, as far as his injury, like, I don’t know. I thought the match seemed extremely normal until I was up the break in the fifth, then I feel like that’s when I felt like he was limping and moving.
“I don’t know. I can’t speak to the seriousness of the injury. I tried to play the match extremely straight up. I hyperextended my knee pretty bad before. For me, it’s different for everyone, but when I did it, I was a little sore, felt like my knee was stretched out, but I played normally, pretty normally, the following days.
“Going into it, I was just trying to I guess approach the match as if he’s healthy. Again, I can’t speak for how healthy he is or not.
“Yeah, that’s what we talked about at the net. It’s not a big deal. It’s all good.”
Zverev also admitted that he had “no issues” with his American rival.
“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,” he said.
The 2-time Grand Slam finalist added: “That’s okay. No issues. No drama. 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.”