WIMBLEDON, England — Morgan Riddle, the girlfriend of Taylor Fritz and a fashion influencer, issued a statement Tuesday after her Instagram posts went viral Monday following Fritz’s five-set comeback victory over Alexander Zverev in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
In the first post, published during the match, Riddle wrote “cheer loud ladies” with a picture of Fritz on the court. In the second, Riddle posted a video of herself celebrating after the match and wrote “when ur man wins 4 the girls.” Both were interpreted by many on social media to be a reference to the allegations of domestic abuse against Zverev by two of his former partners.
Riddle deleted both posts after they had gained traction Monday night.
“I took them down as soon as I realized the misunderstanding and how blown out of proportion they had become by the media,” Riddle wrote in a post to her Instagram story Tuesday. “They were not about anything that’s happened off the tennis court [and] there’s no bad blood between anyone.”
Immediately following the conclusion of the match Monday, Zverev stopped Fritz at the net for an extended conversation. Zverev later told reporters he took issue with some of the cheering from Fritz’s player box during the match, especially as he believed it was apparent he was struggling with an injury. Riddle was seated in Fritz’s box throughout the match.
“Towards the end, I mean, I thought from the fourth and fifth set, I was really struggling to serve, as well, to jump off on my leg, to create some power,” Zverev said. “His team is extremely respectful. I think his coach, his physio, also his second coach, they’re extremely respectful. I think there’s some other people that maybe are in the box that are not maybe from the tennis world, that are not maybe from particularly watching every single match. They were a bit over the top.”
Fritz called their exchange at the net and Zverev’s complaints “no big deal” and said it was “all good.” He will next play Lorenzo Musetti on Wednesday with a chance to advance to the first major semifinal of his career.
