Former Wimbledon Champion Past Cash has lambasted Taylor Fritz for his behavior with Arthur Rinderknech at Wimbledon after his R2 match.
The Australian feels Fritz’ made in inappropriate remarks to the Frenchman and claimed that the big-serving American doesn’t have a plenty of friends in the locker room.
Fritz triumphed against Rinderknech in their second round match 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 at All England Club and it was quickly followed by a heated exchange at the net during the customary handshake.
The Wimbledon clash was a grudge matchup after Fritz had shushed a hostile crowd who were cheering home hope Rinderknech using all the noise their throats can generate at 2023 French Open.
Before their rematch at SW19, Rinderknech said: “He (Fritz) 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 crowd would send him kisses in between points.”
Fritz saw Rinderknech’s comments in bad taste and used them as fuel before their anticipated duel as he eventually dispatched the Frenchman and told him to have a nice flight home after the match.
Cash, a former ATP #4 criticized Fritz for taunting his opponent and argued this interaction will not improve the 26-year-old’s image in locker room.
“Yeah that’s not cool, that’s not good,” the renowned tennis commentator told the BBC. “That’s not good, it’s inappropriate and he doesn’t have a lot of mates on this tour, does he?
“He doesn’t really care, he wants to get out there and does his stuff, he’s not overly friendly but he doesn’t care. You’re not going to get any more mates from saying ‘have a [nice] flight home’ though.”
Following his victory over World #76, Fritz revealed what he had said and made no secret of the fact how is rival’s remarks charged him up.
“Normally I don’t [get riled by comments], but it’s tough not to when, obviously, someone kind of, I guess, goes out of their way to take a jab at you,” the World #12 explained.
“It’s tough not to see it because everyone is just going to, like, tag me and make sure I see it. As soon as I saw it, the match was basically over.
“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’.
“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 was beaten by Lorenzo Musetti in 5-sets in the quarters.