Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash has criticised Taylor Fritz, claiming the American tennis pro “doesn’t have a lot of mates on tour” due to his behaviour at SW19. This comes as Fritz is set to face off against long-standing rival Carlos Alcaraz in the Six Kings Slam on Thursday. The pair previously clashed in the semi-finals at the summer Slam this year, where world No. 1 Alcaraz triumphed over the 27-year-old 6-4 5-7 6-3 7-6.
However, it was Fritz’s actions during last year’s tournament that led to Cash’s harsh critique. Fritz had a tense match against Arthur Rinderknech in the early stages of Wimbledon 2024, following a dispute that started a year earlier at Roland Garros. During the 2023 French Open, Fritz celebrated his victory over Rinderknech by silencing the crowd, an action that drew widespread criticism.
In the lead-up to Wimbledon 2024, Rinderknech commented on his opponent: “He 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.”
Despite this, Fritz had the last laugh after his four-set win in south west London, revealing what he said to Rinderknech at the net afterwards. He stated: “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.”
Following Fritz’s defiant behaviour, 1987 Wimbledon champion Cash delivered a damning verdict to the BBC regarding the tennis star’s “inappropriate” conduct.
He told Tennis365: “Yeah that’s not cool, 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.”
Whilst Fritz may have savoured his victory at the time, he failed to progress much further in the competition, being eliminated by Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals during a thrilling five-set encounter.
He remains without a Grand Slam title, with his finest showing being a defeat to Jannik Sinner in last year’s US Open final. This comes as Fritz returns to action on Thursday to take on Alcaraz at the lucrative Six Kings Slam in Riyadh.
The pair have both reached the semi-finals of the tournament. Depending on the outcome of their corresponding encounters, they aspire to securing their spot in the final against either Sinner or Novak Djokovic.
Fritz will be seeking revenge against the 22-year-old following his defeat in last month’s Japan Open final, which he lost 6-4 6-4.
And he might possess a marginal edge as the duo prepare for combat in Saudi Arabia.
This is because Alcaraz is still currently managing an ankle injury, which he picked up in Japan.
After withdrawing from the Shanghai Masters to give his body time to heal, Alcaraz recently revealed: “I’ve been recovering the ankle as much and as good as I can.
“I don’t feel, I would say, 100 per cent the doubts are there thinking about it a little bit when I’m moving on court. But I think it improved a lot and I’m going to compete and perform well here in the Six Kings Slam.”