Taylor Fritz will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing start to the season, where he suffered an Australian Open third round exit.
Fritz praised Gael Monfils after their meeting in Melbourne, which the Frenchman won 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(7-1), 6-4.
American star Fritz now turns his focus to the 2025 Dallas Open, where he is the top seed in a tournament involving a long list of his compatriots.
Frances Tiafoe, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul and Alex Michelsen are all taking on the ATP 500 event, which gets underway on February 3rd.
But Fritz will be the player to watch, not only because of his seeding but because of his first round draw against Arthur Rinderknech.
Taylor Fritz and Arthur Rinderknech set for potentially heated rematch at Dallas Open
The duo have only met two times in their careers so far, but have already managed to stir up quite a rivalry ahead of their next meeting.
It started when Fritz shushed the crowd after beating the Frenchman in the second round of the 2023 French Open, with Rinderknech sharing his displeasure for such actions ahead of their match at Wimbledon a year later.
Fritz secured another second round victory, and was asked in his winning press conference if he listened to his opponent’s thoughts before the match, and indeed if it gave him extra motivation to win.
READ MORE: Arthur Rinderknech accuses Taylor Fritz of ‘crying’ and being ‘whiny’ ahead of their Wimbledon match
“Yeah, normally I don’t, but it’s tough not to when, obviously, someone kind of, I guess, goes out of their way to take a jab at you,” he said.
“It’s tough not to see it because everyone is just going to, like, tag me and make sure I see it. As soon as I saw it, the match was basically over.
“It just gives me extra fire, obviously. 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’. 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’.”
Taylor Fritz and Arthur Rinderknech out of form ahead of Dallas Open clash
Fritz certainly made himself a villain at Roland Garros after his first meeting with Rinderknech, which he won 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
The number nine seed at the time clearly felt under fire from the French Open fans, who made their feelings about the American very clear after he riled them up on court.
Fritz then won the highly-anticipated rematch at Wimbledon 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, with a third successive win now on the cards.
But he is out of form going into the match, with a shock Australian Open loss to Monfils coming after recent final appearances at the US Open and the ATP Finals.
His upcoming opponent Rinderknech meanwhile fell at the first hurdle in Melbourne, losing a five-set thriller to Fritz’s compatriot Tiafoe, while he has just suffered a second round exit in Montpellier.
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