Taylor Fritz with fiery handshake after Wimbledon victory: “Have a safe flight home”

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Taylor Fritz wished his opponent Arthur Rinderknech a “nice flight home” with a fiery handshake after defeating him and reaching the third round of Wimbledon.

The 13th-seeded American was involved in a heated duel with Frenchman Rinderknech at last year’s French Open at Roland Garros, in which he silenced the rowdy home crowd after winning a match point and was booed afterwards.

Rinderknech referred to the match ahead of the Wimbledon meeting, saying in comments reported by French media: “The atmosphere will be calmer and he will not cry as much.”

But Fritz won 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, delivering a brutal defeat at the net as the players shook hands before revealing that Rinderknech’s comments had given him “even more fire” and motivation to beat him.

“I’m a very relaxed person,” said Fritz afterwards. “I don’t do anything that could upset people. So if someone goes to the trouble of attacking me, I won’t just put up with it.”

“That gave me the extra motivation to win. When we shook hands, I just said, ‘Have a safe flight home.'”

“He asked me what I had said. I told him what I had said. He told me he was still in doubles. I said, ‘Oh, congratulations, good for you.’ Then he started acting like, ‘Why are you so blah, blah, blah?’

“I say, ‘Dude, you know what you said. You know what you said. Don’t disrespect me before the game and then expect me to be all nice after the game.’ That’s not how it works.”

Fritz said it was hard to miss Rinderknech’s comments, which were posted all over social media ahead of their rematch at Wimbledon.

“It’s hard not to see the comments when someone goes out of their way to take a swipe at you. It’s hard not to see it because everyone just tags me and makes sure I see it.

“When I saw that, the game was basically over.”