Taylor Fritz was booed off the court following his second round win at the French Open after repeatedly telling the highly-animated crowd on Court Suzanne Lenglen to shush.
The world No.8 was taking on Arthur Rinderknech, the last remaining French singles player in this year’s tournament. Naturally, the crowd was on the side of their home player as they cheered on Rinderknech. Meanwhile, Fritz had to contend with some heckling from the stands and at one stage of the match was unable to start serving due to the noise. Despite the challenge, he managed to prevail 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
The tense atmosphere reached its boiling point just seconds after Fritz sealed the win when Rinderknech hit a lob that landed out. Instantly he put his finger to his mouth in a gesture to silence the crowd which prompted them to boo at him. Despite this, the American continued to do so which lead to his on-court interview being cut after one question.
Marion Bartoli, who was the person interviewing Fritz, tried to urge the rowdy fans to calm down in order for her to speak with the tennis player but she was unsuccessful in doing so. In the end, she had to stand next to Fritz to speak to him who was visibly bemused by the situation.
“I came out and the crowd was so great honestly. Like, the crowd was just so great,” Fritz sarcastically remarked. “They cheered so well for me, I wanted to make sure that I won. Thanks, guys.”
Fritz immediately left the court after answering that question.
Speaking in his press conference, Rinderknech described the atmosphere as ‘crazy and great.’ When asked if the crowd behaviour was acceptable, he said he is use to it due to playing matches in America.
“In the U.S. the public even interacts in between the points. You can imagine here (at the French Open) if this had been the case, the match would have been crazy,” he said.
“Maybe in the U.S., the sound was a bit less. As long as people don’t shout during the points and things that have nothing to do with encouragement, then I’m in favour of it. It just makes the game even better.”
It is not the first time a player has locked horns with the crowd during their match with another notable example being Daniil Medvedev at the 2019 US Open. After his win over Feliciano Lopez, he said to those fans ‘“I want all of you to know, when you go to sleep at night, I won because of you.” Two years later he won his first Grand Slam title at that tournament.
Fritz will next play Francisco Cerundolo in the third round where he can expect more hostility from the crowd.
