‘Sweet angel’: Taylor Fritz’s girlfriend gushes over rival’s sweet act
Andrey Rublev booked a fourth round clash with Alex de Minaur but a moment in his match has caught the eye of a rival’s partner.
Men’s fifth seed Andrey Rublev booked a round of 16 clash with Alex de Minaur with his straight sets win on Friday night, but he also won over the girlfriend of American rival Taylor Fritz.
The 26-year-old Russian was ruthless, ousting 29th seed Sebastian Korda in a straight sets demolition but it was a sweet act early in the match.
Leading 3-2 in the first set and after a change of ends, Rublev prepared to receive when he noticed a cricket was on the court.
The critter proved elusive, dodging the world No. 5.
The commentators said: “If that cricket doesn’t behave, it might see the underside of a size 10 Nike shoe.”
But the Russian persisted and with the help of a pair of ballkids, got the cricket off the court.
The sweet moment didn’t escape Rublev’s potential semi-final opponent Taylor Fritz.
Fritz’s girlfriend Morgan Riddle, who has been dubbed the “first lady of tennis”, posted a video of the couple watching the moment on her Instagram.
“That’s a cricket — just kill it dude,” Fritz said.
“Taylor, Stop, don’t say that. He’s being a sweet angel,” Riddle said.
As the cricket continued to evade Rublev, Fritz said: “Now he’s just like f**king throwing it around — he doesn’t give a f**k,” Fritz said as the pair laughed.
The 2024 Australian Open has seen plenty of wildlife breaks with crickets and seagulls playing their part.
In her first round clash, Emma Raducanu called in a ballkid to save the day with a cricket going off.
The ballkid needed a towel to get it off the court after failing to catch it with her hands.
Raducanu shared a video of the incident, writing: “It’s true what they say about the (crickets) here – way too good from the ball girl.”
But not to be outdone, the seagulls have stopped several matches as well.
Two matches were stopped by seagulls on day two of the tournament.
A bird landed on the court during the clash between Felix Auger-Aliassime and needed a ballkid to chase it away.
Minutes later on court 3, a seagull then stopped the clash between Jan-Lennard Struff and Rinky Hijikata on match point.
Then on Wednesday during Stefanos Tsitsipas’ round two clash with Aussie Jordan Thompson, a seagull circling the court did laps just above the court.
While fans had a field day mocking Thompson, who had called the Australian Open the “wokest tournament ever” over a new rule, the Aussie did the sporting thing, telling the umpire it should be a first serve for Tsitsipas.