Ben Shelton cheekily referenced Taylor Fritz’s second-round controversy at Wimbledon, after his exit from the tournament. The American lost to 25th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in a grueling five-setter quarterfinal.

Fritz started strong, taking the first set 6-3 against Musetti. However, the Italian fought back, winning the second set 7-6 (5) and maintaining his momentum to claim the third set 6-2. The American, aiming to break his quarterfinal losing streak (0-4 now), made a comeback by securing the fourth set 6-3. In the decisive fifth set, Musetti quickly established a 3-0 lead, which proved insurmountable for Fritz, winning it 6-1.

After his quarterfinal defeat at the London Major, the 25-year-old shared a farewell post on Instagram. In the caption, Fritz mentioned his plans to rest and “have a good flight home,” a sly remark he had previously made to Arthur Rinderknech at the net after their second-round Wimbledon clash.

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“Tough match yesterday, always hurts to come up just short but that’s part of the game. Now all I can do is rest up, get back to work, and have a good flight home,” Fritz wrote.

Before their second-round clash, Rinderknech recalled how Fritz faced heavy boos from the crowd during their 2023 French Open match. The Frenchman said that his opponent had to cry a “little less” at SW19, to which Fritz responded by confronting Rinderknech at the net and wishing him a good flight home after the win.

Ben Shelton, who went down to Jannik Sinner in the third round, later responded to Taylor Fritz’s recent post, wittily referencing the controversy.

“Safe flight. I already had one myself,” Shelton wrote.

Other than Taylor Fritz, two of his compatriots, Tommy Paul and Emma Navarro, made it to the last eight of men’s and women’s singles at SW19 respectively. While Paul lost to Carlos Alcaraz, Navarro was defeated by the current finalist, Jasmine Paolini.

“I didn’t serve as well as I probably needed to” – Taylor Fritz after his quarterfinals defeat against Lorenzo Musetti

In his press conference following the match, Taylor Fritz analyzed what went wrong against Lorenzo Musetti. The American stated that he didn’t serve up to the mark, crediting his opponent for performing well on some big points.

“Yeah, I think it was a tough match. He played well on some really big points and I didn’t serve as well as I probably needed to or I guess well as I have been,” Fritz said [at 0:15].

The 25-year-old added that the windy conditions affected his ability to maintain rhythm during the match.

“It was pretty windy today so felt like it was tough to kind of get that, just get that rhythm, timing, or feel because it would constantly change every time I switched sides. But he played especially well in the fifth set,” he added.

Lorenzo Musetti is set to face 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinal on Friday, July 12. The Serb leads Musetti 5-1 in the head-to-head, having won their most recent match at the 2024 French Open.

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