ROLEX SHANGHAI MASTERS

October 8, 2023

Taylor Fritz

Mixed Zone

T. FRITZ/Y. Watanuki

7-6, 6-7, 6-4

Q. Tough, big emotion at the end as well. What was the difference between winning and losing today?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, it came down to the smallest margins. I mean, to be honest, it just came down to me upping it just a bit in the end, and him making some mistakes, when prior he wasn't really doing much wrong. It was tough for me to really just play my game, because no matter what shot I hit he just blasted a winner or missed off of it. So I was just kind of trying to, like fighting to stay in it.

Q. At any point did you feel like you got to change stuff a little bit up because of the level he played?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think, I mean, from the ground there's nothing I can do different. I'm not going to start redlining and blasting every ball because of how well he's playing.

I'm going to try to hit the ball a little bigger, and if he keeps coming up with winners and coming up with big shots, then it is what it is. I mixed up my return position in the beginning because I couldn't touch his serve. I felt like he was getting just ace, ace, hitting every line, so I thought I had to give him something different. It kind of worked, didn't really work, he was still holding pretty easy. So, yeah, it was a tough one.

Q. You're a good judge when it comes to conditions. We haven't played here in four years, how does it play this year?

TAYLOR FRITZ: The courts are always fast, but you switch balls, the balls are very, like, soft, slow, they can be kind of dead. So I would say the combination of the two makes it like a medium, I would say a medium speed. I think it goes through, especially on the serve, but sometimes when you kind of spin a ball from the baseline it's a bit, I feel.