Leave it to the French fans to turn an otherwise nondescript four-set match into one of the biggest stories of the 2023 French Open.
Any Frenchman or Frenchwoman always inspires a ton of crowd support at this tournament. But Thursday’s second-round showdown between Taylor Fritz and Arthur Rinderknech had even more factors in play. It went will into the night because it was preceded on Court Suzanne Lenglen by Daniel Altmaier’s five-hour and 26-minute upset of Jannik Sinner, so the adult beverages had plenty of time to flow all day long. Moreover, Rinderknech was a heavy underdog who was always going to need the crowd behind him. As if all of that wasn’t enough, he was the last remaining Frenchman in the tournament.
After the world No. 78 surprisingly dominated the opening set 6-2, the atmosphere reached a whole ‘nother level–Davis Cup-like, in fact.
“I will say first of all how good it was to play tonight in front of this French crowd,” Rinderknech would later say at the beginning of his press conference. “It felt like…even though I don’t know this feeling…but it felt like an old Davis Cup match.
“So it was really unbelievable for me.”
It definitely wasn’t unbelievable for Fritz.
Despite all of the support for his opponent and wild celebrations for his own unforced errors and even missed first serves, the eighth-ranked American kept his cool from start to finish and bounced back from the slow start to prevail 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 after two hours and 50 minutes.
Only then did Fritz let it all out, giving the fans the business for more than minute following match point–complete with taunting, shushing, and telling them to bring on more booing. They certainly complied, to the extent that Fritz’s on-court interview with Marion Bartoli couldn’t begin for several minutes. And when it finally began, it lasted only one question–to which Fritz gave a sarcastic reply.
“The crowd was so great, honestly. The crowd was just so great that I had to let it fire me up. They cheered so well for me, I had to make sure I won.”
Fritz may not have won the crowd, but he did win the match.
And he made sure everyone knew it, too. His social media influencer girlfriend Morgan Riddle posted a video of Fritz walking through the hallways of Roland Garros with a finger to his mouth. Fritz then posted that emoji on Twitter.
Will Fritz have to silence the crowd again on Saturday? Maybe not, as Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo is his third-round opponent. Then, again maybe he will. Sure enough, Fritz will be right back out on court Suzanne Lenglen. And with no more Frenchmen in the draw, the fans just might adopt Cerundolo.
Encore?
great scenes
Cerundulo in 5
What’s with the censorship?