"What the sport needs" - Taylor Fritz's earns nod of approval from Nick Kyrgios after 'cheeky' Wimbledon confrontation with Arthur Rinderknech

Nick Kyrgios enjoyed the banter between Taylor Fritz and Arthur Rinderknech at Wimbledon 2024 during their second-round match. The Aussie believed that it was exactly what tennis needed to get more eyeballs.

Fritz defeated Rinderknech 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and did not hold back as he cheekily asked the Frenchman to have a safe flight home at the net. He continued to have an altercation with Rinderknech after the customary handshake.

"You know what you did," Fritz said.

"I know what I did?" Rinderknech asked.

"Yeah, you know what you did," Fritz replied.

Nick Kyrgios seemed to have enjoyed the beef between the two and wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

"This is what the sport needs 👀👀👀👀✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️ @Taylor_Fritz97 cheeky."

Taylor Fritz and Arthur Rindernech's feud started during French Open 2023

Taylor Fritz at the 2024 Cinch Championships (Source: GETTY)

Taylor Fritz and Arthur Rinderknech have been engaged in a feud since their encounter at the 2023 French Open. During their match, the French crowd was particularly vocal in their support for their countrymen. They serenaded the American with boos after he defeated Rindernech. Fritz, too, reacted to their boos as he 'shushed' them.

Their 'cold war' continued as Arthur Rinderknech said, ahead of their second-round encounter at Wimbledon 2024, that Taylor Fritz would not be too offended by the crowd as it was a neutral ground for both of them.

He said (according to L'Equipe's Quentin Moynet):

"He [Taylor Fritz] 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."

The American did not take kindly to the Rindernech's words and launched a fiery response. He said that even though he was a calm person, he did not tolerate when someone took a dig at him.

"As soon as I saw it, the match was basically over. I'm a very chill person. I don't do anything that could rub people the wrong way, so when someone kind of just goes out of their way to take a shot at me, then I'm not just going to take it. It gave me the extra fire to win. When we shook hands, I just said have a nice flight home. Don't disrespect me before the match and then expect me to be all nice after the match. That's not how it works," Fritz said (according to Gaspar Ribeiro Lanca).

Fritz had the last laugh on both occasions as he defeated Rinderknech at the 2023 French Open and Wimbledon 2024.