There are many things happening in the world of tennis right now. And of course, all the action is at Wimbledon!  João Fonseca is making waves. Solana Sierra is making history. And Carlos Alcaraz, other than making his opponent’s knees shake, is keeping fans hydrated, and Taylor Fritz, other than also following the giving-water-to-fans-trend, is bleeding.

Well, now mostly cleaned up, but for a brief moment there, after Taylor Fritz handed a bottle of water to an unwell spectator on Centre Court, he dove for the ball (something he’s been doing a lot of this tournament), and was allotted a medical time out in his ongoing match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Fritz, who is leading with the first set 6-4, dove for a volley in the last point of a tie breaker, and missed only to end up cutting his elbow and breaking one of tennis’ many rules: no blood on the court.

That’s right, any signs of visible bleeding require the player to take what’s known as a bleeding timeout, that can last up to 15 minutes. Play must stop till a player stops bleeding and the blood has been cleaned off the court, which seems to be the case now, as play has resumed. So perhaps Fritz might think twice now before he dives.

What Taylor Fritz can look forward to for the remainder of the Championship

Though the American born fifth seed managed to beat Fokina 6-4, 6-3, 6(5)-7, 6-1 after all that, it hasn’t been the most seamless of tournaments for the athlete, who had his first match extended into a two-dayer followed by the extensive blood spillage in this latest one, the result of an old wound re-opening. However, now Fritz can look forward to progressing to the 4th round of the Championships.

When asked in the post game interview after his big win about the dives with the interviewer jokingly saying, “We saw you diving around quite a bit. Do you like hurling yourself around on grass courts as well?” Taylor responded with a laugh, “No, it’s it’s getting it’s getting pretty annoying actually having to stop all the time, but I I feel I feel bad for for my opponent as well when I keep having to stop all the time. But uh I mean, you can only really do it on grass. I’d really be hurting myself any other surface. So, I’m just really determined to uh get some of these balls and, you know, eventually I’m going to I’m going to win one of these points. It’s going to be really cool.” And we’ll see soon enough if Taylor lives up to his word!

The ‘dive bombers’ next game will be against Australia’s Jordan Thompson on July 6th. Thompson’s career high was world No. 26 in the Men’s Singles category and No. 3 in Doubles. This year Thompson came into the tournament with a back injury and several disadvantages, however he has persevered and how! Who, Taylor Fritz or Thompson, will be more resilient when the time comes, is the question of the hour.