ROLAND GARROS

September 30, 2020

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/R. Albot

6-3, 6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I know you enjoy video games, as well. I'd just like to ask you, have you had the chance to play the video game Fortnite? Are you any good at it? How do you rate your chances at Roland Garros over the next fortnight?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I have definitely played Fortnite, played a lot of it. Played a couple athlete, like, celebrity Fortnite tournaments. Definitely been around that.

Then Roland Garros, we will see. Taking it one at a time. I played really well today. I like my chances if I can keep playing like that.

Q. Coming off that lengthy first-round match, how did you feel out there? You certainly played quite well today. Wondering if there were any at all residual effects from going as long as you did on day one?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I was definitely more sore than I thought I was going to be, actually. I played the five-setter, obviously it was a long match, I think it was like 3 hours, 40 minutes, close to 4 hours.

But I got off the court after that match and I didn't feel like tired or I didn't feel like bad. I actually felt like I had lots of energy, felt fine. I wasn't really expecting to get sore, but I definitely did. I think it's just the different moving on clay, playing a long match.

Luckily for me it was the Sunday match so I got Monday, Tuesday, to kind of recover. Yeah, I felt great today.

Q. A magazine in the U.S. recently wrote an article about you where they pose the question: Can Taylor Fritz become the next U.S.A. tennis superstar? What are your thoughts on that question and what's your answer?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, I prefer to just kind of let my tennis do the talking. You know, it's a very -- it's a cool thing, it's cool that people are asking that or talking about that. I really just have to put in the work, play tennis, have the results, and not get too caught up in thinking about that.

Hopefully in time the answer is yes, but, you know, I've got a lot of work to do.

Q. I think three of the men's quarterfinalists from the US Open are gone, all four women semifinalists from the Open either weren't here or are now gone. I'm wondering if you think it's more surface-related or turnaround-related? You're a young person and you just talked about being sore. So I'm wondering what your thoughts are on that.

TAYLOR FRITZ: You know, I'm not quite sure. I mean, part of it -- on the women's side, I know Naomi didn't even -- like, isn't playing, so I think that's part of it. But on the men's side, who -- oh, who lost? Sorry, I haven't really been following that well (smiling).

I'd say maybe part of it is surface. I know a lot of the guys that went deep in the US Open didn't, you know, come straight to clay. Definitely was a super tough turnaround for any of those guys to go and try to play Rome.

I definitely felt it coming to Rome and Hamburg, because typically in a normal year I get to train on clay for three weeks before going to start actually playing tournaments. So I kind of got thrown straight onto the clay courts in Rome. I'm just now this week finding my game, which is normal, taking a couple weeks to find it. I didn't grow up on clay like some players. It takes some time to get used to it.

It could be part of it. It could also just be a coincidence that maybe some people do better on hard court or maybe just their opponents played well and got them. I'm not sure.

Q. I know that you enjoy photo shoots, and some of your American tennis colleagues have suggested that if the tennis career doesn't work out, you could have a new career on the catwalk. I know it's something that a lot of your fans are interested in, as well. So any hopes to become America's next top model?

TAYLOR FRITZ: You know, it's funny. I did a cool little spread for a magazine in the U.S., and my friends all just got ahold of the pictures the other day, so they had a good laugh about it. They dressed me up in, like, all these just crazy like designer clothes, like LA stylists put stuff together. They had a pretty good laugh at that.

You know, I don't mind it. I think it's something I could do in my spare time, but I'm not, like, really pursuing any type of modeling at the moment (smiling).

Q. You've got some good friends on the American tennis circuit. Any rivals in the modeling world, do you think? Can you name them now?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I don't think so. I don't even know. I think there's your standard guys on tour that post lots of pictures. I don't want to say names right now.

Q. Just wanted to get your thoughts on Serena Williams today. She pulled out for an injury. It's tough at this stage of her career, and you're quite young. I just wanted to know what she can do to lift the game of tennis in the world and what she does to inspire other young Americans in tennis.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Sorry, you cut out in the middle. A little bit in the middle.

Q. Just a comment on Serena Williams and what she's done for tennis. You know, can anyone really match what she's done in America?

TAYLOR FRITZ: It would be really tough, I'd say. Obviously Serena is the greatest of all time. When she walks around, like even now, I have been on tour for so long, she still has this aura, you know, very similar to, like, Roger, as well.

I mean, she's done so much. She's probably inspired so many people in the U.S. and has done so much for our sport by just getting so many people to play our sport, because so many people want to be like her.

That's awesome, and I think it would be amazing to have more players that can achieve a lot and inspire more people in the U.S. to play tennis and grow our sport.

What she's done is amazing, and maybe just this turnaround from hard to clay court was tough. I didn't know she pulled out. I was playing my match, so I didn't hear the news.

Hopefully it's nothing serious and it's just probably something related to switching surfaces and stuff.

Q. Given the conditions here, how do you feel about the final set lack of a tiebreaker? Would you like to see a tiebreaker here in the last set?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Ah, it's a tough conversation, because I really, really enjoyed the Moutet and Giustino match. The one that went 18-16. That's just like -- I like that stuff. It's very entertaining just to see people battle it out. They went like six hours.

It's tough. Obviously it really affects them. Whoever wins that match, I feel like they are at such a disadvantage in their next match just because they don't play a tiebreaker in the fifth set. But it's so, for me anyways, it's so entertaining to watch.

Obviously conditions are tough, but I don't know. I'm torn between it, because like I said, it messes up their chances for the next round, but it's like I really enjoyed watching that match. I don't know what to say.

Q. What if you're the guy in it?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Oh, yeah. I'm going to feel great afterwards. I think the feeling of winning that is a better feeling of winning 7-6 in the fifth. I think both are amazing feelings.

But I don't know, I think that's, like playing five sets and doing stuff like that, is one of the things that makes tennis, in my mind, such an elite sport that people don't understand what it takes and how fit and just different, like, the athletes are in tennis to be able to basically just run sprints for six hours straight. So I think it's like -- it's really cool. It's a really cool part of the sport.

Again, I don't really know what to tell you.