AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2024

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/S. Tsitsipas

7-5, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, congratulations. This is your first time to reach Australian Open quarterfinals and also your first time to beat a top-10 player in a Grand Slam. How happy are you about your performance today?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I'm really happy. I think start to finish I played really well. Especially I'm super happy about the way I finished it. The last three games of the match I really, really turned it on, almost like was in a trance and everything. Just felt good. I felt like I knew exactly what shot to hit, the right decision to make on every ball.

It's great. It's been a while since I've had that feeling, so it gives me a lot of confidence.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. One hour before you, Novak Djokovic, your next opponent, sat here and he told that he believed that conditions here was fast court and slow balls suits you, working well for you. Other thing he believed if he will play on his level that he's pretty sure that he will win. Any comment on that?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, if I beat someone eight times in a row, I'd be pretty confident playing them, too, I'd have to say. I can't really fault him for that.

I think the conditions here are definitely better for me than maybe US Open or Cincinnati. I mean, to be honest, the only decent match I've played against him in our last couple meetings was in Turin at the end of '22. In that match I served for the second set. It was pretty close. Since then when I've played him, I've played pretty poor, I think.

I think that I have a lot more level to bring than I've previously brought against him. Hopefully I can play another match like today.

Q. I'm assuming you would think of this as the best Grand Slam match you've ever played.

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, I've played very good Grand Slam matches before, but maybe not against the caliber of player as Stef. Yeah, I mean, start to finish, it was extremely high level.

Q. That state that you were in, start-to-finish level, was really, really high. Seemed like you were very locked in. Do you know why that comes sometimes? Did you feel it coming in the warm-up or this morning when you got out of bed?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Well, I played well the whole match. I felt that as soon as I knew that I was going to be playing Stef in this match, I don't know, I think the styles match up well for me.

I think a lot of, I guess, the game plan for me is stuff that play into my strengths and play into my best shots and play into what I like to do.

I just felt very relaxed and confident about the match, not really uptight, worried, like I can be, like I probably was for all my other matches, to be honest (smiling).

Yeah, I had a feeling I was going to play well. I guess what happened the last couple games where I just feel super, super locked in, like where I just am letting the ball go and I feel like I can't miss, I feel like I know the right shot to hit. Yeah, I mean, I wish I knew how to always get into that.

Q. Take away who you're playing in the quarterfinal, how do you feel generally about making it to this level in the Australian Open for the first time, just about the whole tournament?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, I'm happy obviously. Like, my other two quarterfinals came to me with I was seeded higher and draws opened up a bit. So it feels extra earned this week. I feel like I really had to play a super high level today.

Yeah, there's a lot of really good players. I dropped outside of the top 10 I think this week or last week, so it feels really good to kind of earn my spot back like almost immediately.

Q. You're obviously a different player than what you first started playing Novak. When you look at him, do you think of him as a different kind of player who's doing different things who you have to prepare for differently?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Honestly, I don't think there will be too much -- I mean, he hasn't really, as far as playing me, hasn't ever had a reason to change up what he's doing or change strategy because it's always gone his way.

I think there's people that I have played quite a bit over the years who I've gone back and forth with. Maybe I win, maybe I lose. Between us we've made a lot of adjustments to the game plan and changed a lot of things around.

But, I mean, it's been one-sided with Novak. I feel like he's played me pretty much the same every time.