Taylor Fritz upset No. 4 Alexander Zverev in the fourth round at Wimbledon, but it wasn’t the leading story to come out of the match.
After Fritz, the No. 12 seed, won in five sets, the two had a lengthy talk at the net while shaking hands. Zverev took issue with people cheering in Fritz’ box that “are not maybe from the tennis world.”
Zverev dealt with an injury through the match and seemed to call out Fritz’s girlfriend, with this comment.
“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 girlfriend jabbed back at Zverev in a not-so subtle way on social media. Here’s who she is and what she said regarding Zverev.
MORE: Full results, standings from Wimbledon 2024
Who is Taylor Fritz’s girlfriend?
Fritz’ girlfriend is Morgan Riddle, a social media influencer.
The two have been dating since 2020 and met on the membership-exclusive dating app Raya during the peak months of Covid-19 in Los Angeles.
“Because it was during Covid, no restaurants were open, no bars were open so we ordered sushi,” Riddle told People. “We went to his place and I made him watch Midsommar with me, the really messed up horror movie.”
Riddle has earned the title “the most famous woman in men’s tennis” from the New York Times.
She has over 322,000 followers on Instagram, 500,000 followers on TikTok and 74,000 subscribers on YouTube. She posts day in the life videos related to tennis and her boyfriend Fritz.
MORE: Who is the last American to win Wimbledon?
What did Morgan Riddle say to Alexander Zverev?
After Zverev took issue with some excessive cheering from Fritz’ box, Riddle fired back on Instagram. She posted two stories, which were deleted soon after.
Her first post was a picture of the tennis court captioned “cheer loud ladies.” The next was her dancing with the caption “when your man wins 4 the girls.”
Morgan Riddle on Instagram this afternoon as her boyfriend Taylor Fritz beats Alexander Zverev.#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/napGHm8EPR
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 8, 2024
Without knowledge of Zverev’s past, the posts may seem like light jabs. Fans, however, were aware of the assault allegations Zverev faced, and it seemed the two Instagram stories held a much larger message.
Riddle took the posts down after stirring controversy within the tennis world. She clarified that her posts were misunderstood and “blown out of proportion.”
Morgan Riddle put this retraction up today…can’t say her statement is especially believable given the obvious context of yesterday’s posts, but it’s unsurprising that the culture of silence in the ATP around the Zverev abuse accusations remains incredibly strong. pic.twitter.com/w9dLouqn3X
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 9, 2024
Alexander Zverev allegations
Zverev was accused of “physically abusing and damaging the health of a woman during an argument in Berlin in May 2020” according to a court document from October 2023. The woman is the mother of his child.
The German court issued Zverev a $488,000 fine and penalty order to which the star tennis player called “complete bulls—.”
He ultimately settled to pay $217,820 to “shorten the process especially in the interest of the child they have together,” his legal team said. Zverev’s settlement does not indicate he’s guilty by court of law. He kept his innocence and avoided trial.
It’s not the only allegations Zverev faced, however. Olya Sharypova, a former tennis player, said Zverev assaulted her multiple times. She posted her story on Instagram in Oct. 2020, but she did not press charges. The ATP hired an outside group to investigate the claims.
Zverev denied these allegations and the investigation did not result in any punishment for the German tennis player due to “insufficient evidence.”