UNITED CUP

December 30, 2022

David Witt

Taylor Fritz

Jessica Pegula

Madison Keys

Frances Tiafoe

Team USA

Press Conference

FRITZ-PEGULA/Lehecka-Bouzkova

2-6, 6-3, 10-7

USA - 4

Czech Republic - 1

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations Team USA on the win. David, some reflections on the past couple of days, the performance of the team.

DAVID WITT: It's been fun. Played some good matches. I think everybody was happy to get out there and get that first match underway. We had some good-quality tennis. It was fun.

We got a good 4-1 victory, and move on.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Jess, talk about today's match, your thoughts on that. Irrespective of the result, in terms of the level you were able to play, how do you rate it all?

JESSICA PEGULA: Yeah, because I lost, it technically wasn't the first loss of 2023 yet. That was the positive side I was looking on (smiling).

Petra played really well. It was a really crazy first set. Kind of a typical match with her. I feel like always she can really step into the court, hit lots of winners, hit a big ball. I thought she served really well all day today.

I thought it was a high-level match for a solid two hours. Got kind of physical there I feel like towards the end. Yeah, I thought it was a good level. It's not always easy playing someone like her first match of the season.

I thought I did a lot of things really well, but lots of room to improve. It was a tough match, but glad I got to turn it around in mixed after that.

Q. Taylor and Maddie, this event you've got a range of experienced players and younger people on the team. Has Alycia spoken to you about tips? Do you feel like a role model at this event?

MADISON KEYS: No, you don't.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Not yet.

MADISON KEYS: Not yet. Plenty of days left (smiling).

Q. In general, how are you feeling after that mixed match, Taylor, another match under your belt?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, definitely glad that we kind of picked it up. We were in control in the second, then we got the 10-point breaker. It was pretty rough.

But, yeah, it was pretty rough the first set. I came out not really playing how I wanted to play, but we did a really good job.

FRANCES TIAFOE: You guys came out with a crazy level (smiling).

TAYLOR FRITZ: Did a good job regrouping and playing well in the end. We'll see who we'll go with for the future match. I have a feeling mixed doubles will be kind of important in the later stages of the event.

Q. Frances...

FRANCES TIAFOE: You love asking me questions. Knew you were coming straight to me. Love asking me questions (smiling).

Q. Today's match, you started off pretty well. He made you work for it in the second. Then the injury to him. Overall what do you think it was like today for you?

FRANCES TIAFOE: I mean, I thought it was good. I thought first set I played pretty well. Had a little lull early in the second. I was battling back. Got to a decent place. Got broken again. He played a good game to break me.

Unfortunate what happened to him. I thought the level was pretty high. He was playing well. I was playing pretty well. I was ready for a battle. First match, kind of getting my feet under me.

Sucks to see what happened. I hope he's all right. Like I said, he probably put in a good off-season and was ready to go. That's not how you want to start the season. It's tennis. It's sport.

I'm happy that we were able to get a win, able to get a win for these guys.

Q. Jessica and Taylor, not often you get to play mixed doubles. What was it like? How much fun did you have? Is it something you could see yourself doing at some of the majors?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I don't think I would want to play at the majors just 'cause I need to focus on playing the three-out-of-the-five-set singles matches.

It's definitely fun. Maybe how I was playing at the beginning wasn't fun, but it's definitely fun playing mixed. It's different.

JESSICA PEGULA: I thought it was really fun. I'm sure a lot of the guys in singles don't really want to play mixed. Three-out-of-five, that's tough.

It's cool to experience it at these team events. I thought it was really fun. We don't really know each other that well, too. It was nice to, like, strategize and kind of mess around a little bit and have fun. Obviously get the win, really turn it around. Yeah, that first set was a little bit of a struggle, but yeah.

Q. Jess, I'm sure you're preferring these weather conditions to what's happening back in Buffalo.

JESSICA PEGULA: Oh, yeah. It's actually been really bad now that the weather has kind of subsided. They're finding a lot of people that were in their cars, on the side of the road. It was really bad.

But, I mean, the city, it's like the City of Good Neighbors. They'll do an amazing job to pull together and kind of help each other out like usual.

Yeah, it was hard to see after it was really bad there for a while. Hopefully we can get some good camaraderie with a couple hockey wins, couple Bills wins. Usually pulls people together. Hopefully we'll see that going into the new year.

Q. In terms of playing this event, you'll have a guaranteed effectively two singles matches over a pretty long period of time. As you're getting ready for the Open, starting the season, is this a good rhythm, way to ease into things, or does it feel a little bit stop-start?

JESSICA PEGULA: I don't know. I like getting confidence from team events. Even if it's like winning a mixed doubles match, I think it's still really good. At least for me. I got to play both, so maybe I might get to play more matches than other people.

I like it. I think it keeps you in a competitive mode. I'm still going to try to play Adelaide the week before. To me it's not too big of a deal. Obviously I hope we keep winning and get more matches. It's obviously ideal.

FRANCES TIAFOE: Yeah, I mean, for me, I think it's good. Obviously it's a tournament-tournament, but much less pressure playing a team event. You just kind of have fun, let the chips fall where they may.

For me, I think it's ideal. I mean, we plan on playing a lot of matches. It's a great team. Everyone here is very, very capable. Everyone is battle-tested, played at such a high level.

Yeah, I mean, I plan on us playing more than two matches, that's for sure.