Taylor Fritz makes his feelings known about Daniil Medvedev's meltdown during their ATP Finals round-robin clash

Taylor Fritz claimed that he found Daniil Medvedev's antics during their encounter at the 2024 ATP Finals to be hilarious. The American also maintained that while his Russian opponent lost his composure at various points of the match, he had to stay focused to secure his third career victory at the year-end championships.

Fritz started his first round-robin match at this year's ATP Finals in tight fashion on Sunday (November 11), with him and Medvedev both holding their service games to get to 5-4. The World No. 4, however, hit three double-faults in the tenth game of the match to surrender the first set.

The going didn't get any easier for Daniil Medvedev in the second set as he fell behind by a break early on. At 4-2 down, the 28-year-old was given a point penalty for flinging his racquet towards the advertising board on his end of the court.

Medvedev's meltdown got worse as he threw his racquet in the air multiple times while receiving Fritz's serve. He then tried to return a serve with his racquet handle and lost the match 4-6, 3-6 a few minutes later, capping off a rather bizarre performance.

Speaking to the media afterward, Taylor Fritz disclosed that he was laughing at his higher-ranked opponent's antics towards the end of their encounter. The 27-year-old also insisted that he didn't let the above incident have an impact on his focus as he served out the match successfully.

"I mean, I was just laughing. I think he's really funny, to be honest. Even when he's not playing me, he always cracks me up," Taylor Fritz said during his press conference on Sunday. "He's pretty funny. I was laughing more in between the points when he was, like, tossing the racquet up. It's just him. He had the upside down racquet, but it's 40-Love on my serve. It's whatever. He ended up making the return anyways.

"I had to tell myself to really, like, focus. The way he played some of the points at 5-2 when he was serving showed me that he wanted to hold that game, then he was going to try to break me at 5-3."

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Taylor Fritz: "Sometimes when your opponents make it appear like they're not trying, you can lose focus"

Taylor Fritz celebrates after winning his first match at ATP Finals 2024

During his post-match press conference, Taylor Fritz further elaborated on how important it was for him to not lose his focus while Daniil Medvedev spiraled out of control.

"Sometimes when your opponents, like, make it appear almost like they're not trying, maybe they're not trying for a game, you can kind of lose your focus. Then they start trying again, they kind of catch you off guard," Taylor Fritz said. "That happens a lot more in pro tennis than you think, the kind of half tank, then I'm going to try a real quick play, and then they get you."

Fritz will next face World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in his second match at the ATP Finals in Turin on Tuesday (November 12).