Rinderknech trolls his friend Bonzi on social media after their US Open clash

This Friday, Arthur Rinderknech qualified for the round of 16 of a Grand Slam tournament for the very first time in his career. Facing his compatriot and friend Benjamin Bonzi in the third round, the Frenchman won in four sets (4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2).

After victories against two Spaniards in the first two rounds (Carballés Baena and Davidovich Fokina), the 30-year-old player will face another Iberian player for a spot in the quarterfinals, namely Carlos Alcaraz.

Before this marquee match against the world number 2 and 2022 US Open champion, Rinderknech added a humorous twist to his victory over Bonzi on his X (formerly Twitter) account, referencing another sport—football.

A fervent supporter of Stade Rennais, the native of Gassin posted a photo on the social network with a 2-0 scoreline against Bonzi. The latter, in turn, is a supporter of Olympique de Marseille, and the two teams had faced off during the first matchday of Ligue 1 in mid-August.

Rennes won at the last minute with a score of 1-0. Now, with Rinderknech's victory, the score between the two men stands at 2-0. In fact, before their clash on the courts of Flushing Meadows, both Rinderknech and Bonzi had mentioned this football match between their beloved teams.

"I'm a Rennes supporter and he's a Marseille supporter—I imagine you follow Ligue 1. I have nothing else to add regarding the match from ten days ago. We didn’t have a great season last year. We beat them, so I had to seize the opportunity!" Rinderknech told RMC Sport in the days leading up to the match between the two French players.

"We weren’t friends anymore because there was a Rennes-Marseille match that went very badly for me, though usually it goes better. I took a lot of flak. He sent me a message about 30 seconds after the match ended—we’ll skip the details," Bonzi simply retorted, unable to avenge his favorite club.

However, he can take solace in the fact that he will leave the US Open with two marathon five-set victories—first against Daniil Medvedev in an improbable first-round scenario, and then against Marcos Giron in his previous match, despite being down two sets to love.