MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú

March 28, 2023

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/H. Rune

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, well done. You practice a lot with Holger. What do you think was the key in your victory today?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, we have practiced a couple of times, but I never, I guess, like analyzed his game much when we were practicing. I didn't take too much of it into the match.

I felt like the key was just playing solid on my serve, holding serve. I did a good job of that. Then I was able to just steal a couple of breaks. I thought I returned his serve well.

Yeah, I don't know, nothing like I guess really special that was the key to the match, really.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. How do you feel with this match in regards to what do you have to come to right now for the next challenge? Who do you think you're going to face?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, I don't know. I'm very excited to watch that match. I usually don't watch much tennis, but I'm excited to see that.

But I do feel like I'm gonna have to raise the level even more. I'm happy with how I served today and how I was holding my serve, but I think there is going to be a lot longer points and it's going to be a lot more physical regardless who I play between Carlos and Tommy. I think both of them will be a much more physical match.

Q. Were you expecting like longer rallies today? Were you expecting something more physical, maybe a longer game in general and maybe caught you by surprise how maybe just easily you got it done today?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I think, you know, you try to mentally prepare yourself every match for a battle, because then if you're not and you find yourself in one, it's not as easy to play.

So I was definitely expecting a physical, tough match. Yeah, I think the court's very fast and he hadn't played -- center court is faster than the other courts, and I think he hadn't played a match on center court, and maybe he was just making a few more errors than normal probably just because of the speed of the court.

I was able to capitalize on some free points and get some breaks and then kind of just serve well. You know, when I'm serving well and serve plus one is working, then I don't end up having to play too many physical long points.

Q. Talk about the conditions on the court with the shadows and then the sun. I mean, everyone has to deal with it. What was it like for you?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, the shadows are pretty annoying. I'm not a big fan of it. That's the first thing that I was, like, annoyed about when I found out I was playing first on, because I have been playing second on every day, and I have been watching the first-on matches before me and seeing that shadow cut through the court. I'm like, Oh, jeez, I don't want to have to deal with that.

But it wasn't, I guess, the worst thing. There was one game in particular where the sun was in a really bad spot on my serve. I couldn't see the ball at all. I couldn't even barely toss the ball in a weird spot to not have the sun completely block it.

But like you said, it's the same for everybody, so he was dealing with the same thing and we were both just trying to handle it.

Q. You talked a little bit in your on-court interview that you spend some time here in Miami. When did you kind of start spending more time here in Miami? Do you feel it helps you with the conditions when you come and play the tournament down here?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, you know, let's be honest, with how the tennis schedule works, I don't really spend more than like a month at home anyways, whether it be here or LA, so it's not like I have had a ton of time to train in LA, train here, but I have always liked being here. I got the place, started renting an apartment like two years ago here, and then I really liked it.

So just recently I bought a place close to my apartment and I moved in, and, yeah, it's really nice to come back here, especially with those like Europe trips. It's much easier to be here than that extra flight, extra, whatever, five hours back to LA, and then you gain those extra five hours again when you're going back it Europe.

It's very convenient for a lot of the times of the year with the ATP schedule.

Q. In regards to your serve, as you mentioned, that was the big strength today in your match. What do you feel your strengths are and what other strengths are you going to bring to your next game?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, the serve is always the most important thing, like if I'm not serving well, then I'm getting broke, you know, under a lot of pressure on my serve, it's tough. Serving well, it just frees up the rest of my game, because I feel like it's okay if I take chances, miss shots, go for a little bit more because I know I'm going to be getting free points on my serve. So that's always the most important thing.

I'm really happy. I still think that the serve can be even better, but I felt in Acapulco and Indian Wells I wasn't serving well at all, so it feels much better to have that this week.

Other strengths I have is just like I think my backhand is really good, it's really solid, I can trust it, I'm not going to miss it. Then, you know, when I get the right ball I think my forehand is very strong. It's a big weapon when I have some time on it.

Q. You were mentioning the other day about how even though maybe you haven't played your absolute best, you have still had pretty good results and how nice that was. Now you're 6 in the race. How exciting is it for you that maybe you're playing your average tennis, whatever you want to call it, and you are like one of the best players in the world this year?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, it's great that just my average, you know, my level has gone up a lot. I'm able to perform at a level that I think is very like replacable, replicatable, is that the word? Whatever. But I'm playing at a level that I feel like I can do over and over again.

It's nice that that level can put me in the top 10. I felt like last year I was very, like, boom or bust. Either playing really good on a week and I could just go win the tournament or I would just lose in the first or second round. So it is nice to feel more consistent, but also, the way the tour, the points and everything works, it does kind of reward that boom-or-bust style a bit more. It's more beneficial for rankings and stuff to be winning tournaments than being very consistent every week, making quarters, semis.

So hopefully I can take it, you know, couple steps further than quarterfinals and have some of those really big results like I did last year. It's nice to definitely be just more consistent in general.

Q. Just to talk about your possible next two opponents, obviously Carlos you haven't faced, but he's World No. 1, and we all know 19 years old and the way he's playing. And also, Tommy, you just had a massive battle in Acapulco, you guys have a great relationship. Just talk about potentially these two opponents that you'll face in the next round and how tough it would be?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, if it's Carlos, I'm really excited for it. I think that a lot of people, a lot of people are really excited for that too. We have never played each other. I think it's an interesting matchup, and, I don't know, I think it would be a lot of fun to play him.

Obviously he's playing great lately, and, you know, he had some injuries but obviously hasn't missed a beat. He's been just on fire.

And then Tommy, he's been playing, you know, really good all year, kind of doing what I feel like I always felt like he would do and playing at a level that I felt he's always had.

Either one of them, it's going to be very physical, because they are both extremely fast and make me always play extra shots. Probably two of the fastest guys on tour. Either way, it's going to be physical. So I have to be ready for that.