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Taylor Fritz has already given his views on Carlos Alcaraz’s grunting after Stefanos Tsitsipas’s complaints at the French Open

Photo by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images
Photo by Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images
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Stefanos Tsitsipas is not the first player to comment on Carlos Alcaraz’s grunt.

On Tuesday night the 25-year-old played the Spaniard in a Roland Garros quarter-final rematch from 2023.

Alcaraz has a physical and explosive style of play which is illustrated by his grunt after hitting the ball.

But this frustrated Tsitsipas during their contest and he even raised a complaint with the chair umpire.

Former top ten member Taylor Fritz also had something to say about the two-time Grand Slam champion.

What did Taylor Fritz say about Carlos Alcaraz’s grunt?

While trailing 6-1 in the second tiebreak against Alcaraz, Tsitsipas approached the chair umpire to complain what he called an ‘extended grunt’ from his opponent.

“When I’m about to hit the shot, there is an extended grunt,” he said. “The grunt is extended. It’s like a millisecond before I hit it.”

After losing the tiebreak and facing a two-set deficit, the ninth seed went to the umpire again and said: “It’s more that it happened when I was about to hit that forehand down the line, remember? There, it happened more. Before it was manageable, but that last forehand was a little bit borderline too much.”

This comes off the back of previous comments made by Fritz, who tweeted in July 2023 during Wimbledon: “Some players I can think of extend or delay grunts A LOT on big points to put you off and it needs to be called more by umpires.”

Thinking they knew who he was referring to, a fan responded: “Say his name Taylor say Alcaraz,” to which Fritz chuckled: “No his is consistent and if he ever extends it it’s when he blasts a winner so it doesn’t matter.”

2023 Miami Open - Day 12
Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

What else was said about Carlos Alcaraz’s grunting at the French Open?

Tennis legends John McEnroe and Mats Wilander watched Alcaraz complete a straight sets victory over Tsitsipas to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals.

This is the second straight year that the third seed eliminated the Greek star at the last eight of the clay court Grand Slam.

During the match McEnroe called out the grunting and agreed with Tsitsipas’ complaints. “That’s a loud grunt,” he said on Eurosport commentary. “It’s not the first time Carlos has done it. You’ve got to be used to that.”

After the match, Wilander added: “It was an extended grunt. I think he finished it before Tsitsipas hit the ball for sure, but it was the longest grunt of the evening from Carlos Alcaraz. I can understand how that can be a little bit disturbing.”