CITI OPEN

July 31, 2022

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Taylor, what have the past few weeks been like since the quarterfinals appearance at Wimbledon, how you have geared up for the hard court season?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, it's been a bit tough. Obviously I was feeling really good at Wimbledon. I had some foot issues prior to the grass court swing, so I got those checked after Wimbledon. It didn't look great.

I haven't really been doing too much. I was back in a boot. We've kind of just been ramping up in the past week. Hopefully I'm good to go this week. But I'm feeling good. Yeah, just hoping to stay healthy.

Q. I imagine you would have taken at least a little bit of time after Wimbledon to rest and recover. This is even more so, clearly?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, it was not recovery from just taking some time off, it's more like recovery because I'm trying to be healthy for the rest of the U.S. swing.

Q. Look back at the grass court season, the title in Eastbourne, quarterfinal run at Wimbledon, I imagine that's a pretty good confidence boost, you're feeling pretty good?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, for sure. After kind of taking most of the clay court season off 'cause of the foot, then taking a couple weeks trying to get my game back after not playing, it felt really good to kind of get back to the level I felt like I was at earlier in the year: winning a title, quarterfinals of Wimbledon, just playing good tennis.

Q. Can you share with us what you learned about yourself going back to Indian Wells, beating Rafael Nadal? How much of a confidence booster was that? Did it help you prepare for when you played him at Wimbledon?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, I felt like the biggest takeaway from that match was just kind of mentally, I proved to myself that I could kind of get over that hurdle of one of the extremely big names. I've had a lot of big wins and I've played a lot of good matches, but never against Djokovic, Rafa, Federer. I think that's kind of like a big mental hurdle to get over.

Yeah, I think it helped me in the Wimbledon match. I was really excited for that match. I felt really confident about that match. It sucks it didn't go my way in the end.

I definitely, like, had it in my mind that I could win. Just kind of believing that and knowing that is a huge part of being able to beat any of those guys.

Q. You are currently No. 9 in the race. I'm guessing you're paying attention to this. How much is that a goal that you're trying to schedule and target? You said in Australia it was even a goal this year.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, it's a big goal. Like I said, I've had lots of struggles this year with kind of staying healthy. That's kind of the biggest thing I'm trying to manage right now, is I want to be playing every week and playing every tournament. I feel like if I'm healthy and I'm playing every tournament, I'm not honestly too worried about it. I think the level is there. I think I'll finish top eight.

It's kind of trying to balance that, making sure I'm healthy, making sure I can play all the tournaments, perform well at the big ones. Obviously Wimbledon not having points hurts me a good amount. In the end it's the most fair thing to do.

Yeah, I think the first goal is to be top 10, then the goal after that is to make sure I can finish in the top eight.

Q. You're still obviously based on the West Coast, right?

TAYLOR FRITZ: No. Like pretty split.

Q. In Florida the rest of the time?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah.

Q. What are the challenges of being a West Coast-based player? Why have you split it?

TAYLOR FRITZ: There's times of the year where it's probably better to be on the East Coast and there's times of the year it's better to be on the West Coast. My situation is great. I've been in Miami before these tournaments. It's great to get used to the heat and the humidity staying on the East Coast.

Being on the West Coast, definitely tougher in the middle of the year where we're going from Europe and back and forth. When you count both ways, it's 10 extra hours of flying from the West Coast. Also before the year starts, going to Australia, easier on the West Coast.

It's good and bad of both. I'm trying to just kind of put myself in the best places with like the upcoming tournament schedule in mind.

Q. Does being part of a talented group of U.S. players, do the others push you to want to improve?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, absolutely. We've all grown up together. We're all really close friends. At the same time we all definitely want to be better than each other.

Yeah, it's been an extremely healthy kind of competition between us for a long time. We all just keep getting better and better, so I think it's going to continue like that.

Q. A few years ago there was a player here coming off a semifinals appearance at Wimbledon. He spoke of how that made him even hungrier, having been on the cusp. Similarly, does the experience from a few weeks ago even further motivate?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, for sure. I feel like whenever you're doing really well, having good results, it's always very motivating because you always want more and you feel really confident that you can do more 'cause you're playing good tennis.

Yeah, I feel, like I said, the next thing for me is try to be in the top 10. It would really take one good result for that to happen. I'm trying to, like I said, make sure I'm healthy and kind of allow myself to be able to play my best tennis.

Q. To pivot the conversation, Emma was in here earlier, talking about how her mom was with her. What role do your parents play in your tennis career now? How do you think that's going to change?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, currently, not that much, to be honest. Growing up, I mean, they did everything for my tennis. My mom and my dad would travel with me to every tournament. My dad was my coach my whole life. Just got to a point where that dynamic doesn't quite work as well as it used to, so I kind of moved on.

Yeah, right now there's not that much influence. I kind of do things myself. But I obviously wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them and how much they put into my tennis when I was younger.

Q. I don't know how much reality TV you've ever watched. A lot of it comes down to editing in terms of how they make the stories. As someone who is in front of the cameras a lot, how much are you conscious of that? Are you at all trying to watch your behavior or just not give them things? How much are you sort of having to do that throughout this year?

TAYLOR FRITZ: It's interesting because they could really cut it any way they want to cut it. Typically I'm a pretty trusting person. I've completely just kind of been myself. If they cut it a certain way where people hate me, it really is what it is. I don't have the energy to spend all this time in front of a camera and not be myself.

When I'm ripping on, like, my physio or something like that, they could easily cut out the part where we're laughing afterwards and make me look like an ass. They can make it so these things I said, I'm messing with people, that it's not a joke. You just cut out the part where we're laughing about it. Yeah, I mean, I hope they don't do me like that.

I've really just tried to really be myself 'cause I think it's going to be the best thing in the end. I just really don't want to be a robot. I'm tired of that kind of stuff in tennis especially.