Taylor Fritz reveals what Alexander Zverev said to him at the net – ‘He was annoyed’
Taylor Fritz insists his lengthy net exchange with Alexander Zverev following their Wimbledon clash was “no big deal” as he explained why the German was “annoyed”.
The American looked to be headed for an exit after going two sets to one down against his fellow big server, but he produced a brilliant display in the final two sets to win 4-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.
Following the traditional post-match handshake, Zverev had a lot to say to Fritz at the net and even pulled the 13th seed back at one point to continue the conversation.
During the post-match press conference, Fritz said the German wasn’t happy with some of the people in his box as he also made reference to Zverev limping during the latter stages of the match.
“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.”
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Zverev also admitted that he had “no issues” with his opponent.
“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 fourth seed 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.”
