MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú

March 30, 2023

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

C. ALCARAZ/T. Fritz

6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Tough luck, Taylor. It was the first time playing Carlos. What made him so tough to beat tonight?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think that, I mean, he doesn't give you much for free, so you have to work a lot to win, to win pretty much every point.

I mean, I think he played the big points incredibly well tonight. You know, I think all the important points of the match he won, so it made a big difference.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What did you feel that wasn't working for you tonight? Obviously independently of how well he played, what did you feel was missing in your game?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, if we're just speaking on what was going on in my game, you can't just give away your serve to start both sets. I was really excited to start the second set, because I felt like, you know, sometimes you come out, and I wasn't, I guess, adjusted to the speed we were going to be playing at. I didn't really, whatever, the first game, I got broken in the match, but I felt like after that I played very well for the rest of the set. He didn't have any more chances to break me. I had chances to break him. I felt like going into the second set, I had a really good chance.

Then I just threw away my serve again to start the second set. So that was extremely, I guess, demoralizing, because now I'm playing another set from behind. It's just more off of my mistakes. Obviously playing the best player in the world, you can't just drop your serve to start both sets.

On top of that, I felt like I just made way too many mistakes. I just gave him way too many points for free.

Q. I imagine you probably wanted to play him for a while now, and Tommy had played him, Frances obviously played him. Was it about what you expected or different? You mentioned that you had a little trouble adjusting, weren't ready for the pace, but...

TAYLOR FRITZ: I was ready for the pace. It was more like just first time you play someone, like the first game of the match, kind of figuring out what shots I can, I guess, get away with and what I can't get away with, what shots he's going to punish me on and what shots he's not going to punish me on.

Obviously when you're playing different players, some people will hurt you on, I guess, just different levels of shots. So the first game I think I played a little bit too safe, not wanting to miss, and he punished me. So then I realized, okay, I'm going to have to up the average speed just a little more.

It was about, I guess, finding that, which I felt like I did find after the first or second game. He came out really hot. I felt like the third game of the match, the second game that I served, was like probably the highest-level game of the match. Like he was hitting winners off everything, winners off of aggressive shots that I hit, and then I thought I got the hold, but I was, like, wow, if this is the level, then this is going to be really tough.

But I felt like that wasn't actually the level. He did come out extremely hot and played that game really good, but I felt like I settled in after that. For the rest of the set, you know, I was in some service games and I was holding pretty comfortably.

But, yeah, there was a lot of shots that I hit to him that I was expecting to be safe on that I got punished on.

Q. I think it was four good weeks for you. I told you in Delray Open that you were going to win that tournament and you were going to have good matches. My question is with all the changes yesterday, do you think that affect you today? Did you talk with Tommy Paul about the match today with Carlitos? Because he played yesterday.

TAYLOR FRITZ: No, I don't think not playing yesterday really affected anything, to be honest. I think that I probably would have been more unprepared to play yesterday, because they told me all day long that it was going to be -- I just heard about the weather all day along that it was going to be rained out. I was almost expecting not to play. So I don't think that affected anything at all with the changes.

I didn't talk to Tommy, because, one, I can watch the match and be constructed how I feel, and then also Tommy and I play incredibly differently. I can't play the way he plays. He likes to come to net a lot, and he's one of the fastest guys on tour. So I'd say it wouldn't really make much sense for whatever strategy he was going with for me to do.

Q. You have played against Roger, you have played up against Rafa, against Novak, and Carlitos just said two days ago that he wants to be in that conversation. He wants to be a legend of the sport. What was similar? What did you find today? Obviously it was your first meeting, you'll have many more, but what did you see today that will kind of validate that?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, it's not even what I saw today. It's what I have seen for a while now. I said it a year ago when I watched him play, for how young he is, he just has all the tools, you know.

He can come to net, he can dropshot you, he can lob you, he's incredibly fast, he has all the power, his forehand is good, his backhand is good.

You know, it's very rare to see someone so young so, I guess, just developed in their game and not really have anything that they need to work on so much. He has tons of different ways to play, and he can incorporate tons of different game plans to play different players because he has so many tools to win a match. I think that's something that I wouldn't say any of those people had at such a young age. There is always I guess things that people need to improve on.

Also, just speaking of the match today, I did feel the level of the first three games was absolutely unbearable. He was hitting clean winners off of 110-mile-an-hour second serves I was hitting into his body. I'm stepping up and crushing backhands cross, and he's going open-stance backhand line winners off of that.

That wasn't the level for the rest of the match. I was able to settle in much more, and he wasn't doing that the whole match. But he obviously possesses that level, and for those first couple of games, it was pretty overwhelming.

Q. How do you compare it to the first time you played Roger and Rafa and Novak?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Oh, I definitely felt like I had more breathing room against those guys than in this match. I think that, you know, it's different game styles. Novak will have these long rallies, but he'll kind of slowly get you out of position and overwhelm me. I still feel like I can hang in these rallies for a long time and get more chances to attack.

I think that I'd go back to the first couple games of the match. He just winner off of a lot of shots, winners and shots that hurt me off of a lot of shots that people normally aren't hurting me off of.

Definitely less. I just felt he was more offensive and pressed me a lot more.