Alexander Zverev has hit out at Taylor Fritz’s entourage and accused them of being “over the top” during their epic five-set battle on Centre Court. Fritz came from two sets down to win 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-3 and progress to the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Zverev held Fritz for a tense lengthy chat at the net following the conclusion of their match.
Fritz initially played down the heated discussion in his on-court interview but Zverev did not hold back when he entered his press conference.
“Me and Taylor, we grew up together, playing each other since juniors. I think it was fairly obvious that I wasn’t 100% today, right? I wasn’t moving really the entire match. I wasn’t running for dropshots. If I was running for a dropshot, I was limping there more than running,” Zverev began.
“Towards the end, I mean, I thought from the fourth and fifth set, I was really struggling to serve, as well, to jump off on my leg, to create some power.
“His team is extremely respectful. I think his coach, his physio, also his second coach, they’re extremely respectful. 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.
“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.”
Fritz was told of Zverev’s comments as he followed the German into the media room but he refused to get dragged into a war of words.
“I mean, I don’t know. Like I said, I can’t hear. I can’t hear. I don’t really hear my box when I’m playing like that. I didn’t hear anyone being, like, extremely loud,” he said.
“He’s totally allowed to be annoyed if they were being annoying. Like, again, I don’t know. That’s one of the things I asked him at the net, Who was it?
“Yeah, I mean, again, it’s not a big thing. It’s all good.”
Fritze added: “I mean, 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.
“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.”
