BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 9, 2024

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/A. Tabilo

7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Taylor.

Q. Congrats. This place and you, just something good going on. Can you talk about how every time you come here it seems like it's easy for you to find your best tennis.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I feel good even if it's not -- I mean, even if it's not my absolute best, it's still a pretty high level. I don't know what it is. I like the conditions. I get excited for this week, for sure. I feel super motivated to play. Nervous for sure going out there, a tournament that means so much to me. But as soon as I kind of start playing and feeling it, then it goes away, because I just feel like I'm playing pretty well.

Q. How long does it take for those nerves for you, a couple games?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Definitely I'd say depends how I'm playing. But, yeah, a match like today, like, a game or two, and I feel that I'm serving really well and it feels good. I'm not too worried.

Q. Two different sets. Not even a breakpoint in the first set and second set you kind of cruised there. Did you make a change? Did he not play as well?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, I think just over time, both of us, you know, you get a little more used to seeing the other person's serve, because I think -- I mean, he probably returned my serve a little bit better in the second set, as well, even though it didn't, you know, convert in a break, but I felt like he probably put more returns back.

He served really well the first set. Like, he was mixing up the spots, hitting it big, and serving a really high percentage of first serves. Not much I really could have done to break. Not much I think a lot of players could have really done to break him in that first set, so it is what it is. You go into that tiebreaker, it is what it is.

And second set I was just able to find some breaks, maybe, you know, he missed little more first serves. I got more looks at second serves. I was able to get on to a couple more first-serve returns. That was the difference.

Q. The other day you were briefly talking about Stevie stepping aside. You also spoke about the generation as a whole with John and Sam and Sock and Ryan. Can you talk about that generation a little bit more? Can you compare it in any ways with your generations with Tommy and Frances?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I'm not sure. I think our generation is a lot closer in age. I mean, there's more of us and we're all very close.

But, I mean, that generation is just, that was American tennis when we all came up, and those guys were all, you know, extremely, extremely nice and welcoming to all of us, you know. They all were really, really friendly and welcoming to, I guess, just my generation of players, all the guys that are my age. We really appreciated it because obviously we looked up to those guys when we were kids and when we were younger. I was a kid watching people like John and Sam play.

It was cool to kind of be on tour when I was young with those guys, and just them be, I don't know, very, like, friendly and hang out with us and stuff like that.

Q. Agassi was famous for sort of helping Roddick learn the ropes in that transition period way back when. Can you think of any one moment when either John, Sam, you know, just helped you in mentoring you or helped you?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I wouldn't say, like, mentoring, because, I don't know, I feel like -- by the time I got on tour, we were already all, I guess, competing against each other. But just them being very, like, friendly, welcoming, and then just, like, hanging out with all of us, I think that was just cool, you know. We felt like we're part of it, we're part of it now.

Q. Taylor, you mentioned how close your generation is. Forgetting the tennis, just how nice is it on a day-to-day basis with Frances and Tommy just to have that fun, relaxed atmosphere with your friends to break up the tennis aspect?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, it's great, you know, especially when we have to do, like, obviously commitments and stuff sometimes that we don't necessarily want to do (smiling). Maybe I shouldn't say that, I don't know. But it makes it a lot more fun when, you know, I have one of those commitments and I hear, Oh, you're doing it with Frances or you're doing it with Tommy. I'm like, oh, it's going to be fun, actually, because just hanging around them is a good time. It's great to break it up.

Literally just before I came here, like messing around with Frances in the locker room before, you know, joking about something. It's always something.

It's good to kind of break it up, and, you know, keep me, keep all of us, I guess, entertained.

Q. Everybody has been talking about the fact that there is no one-handers in the top 10 for the first time in the history of the ATP rankings. From your perspective, do you think the reason for that, and maybe it's kind of obvious, is that it's just not as efficient as it used to be and maybe more exploitable in today's games? When you face one-handers, do you feel like they're exploitable?

TAYLOR FRITZ: It depends on the one-hander I'm facing. For sure there are some that I feel like I can definitely pick apart, and there are some that I maybe think is even the stronger side of that person, so it just depends on the player.

But I don't know. It's a bit tougher to return serve with a one-y, and I think pretty much, you know, most of what tennis is serve and return, is the two most important parts of the game. That's part of it. But I don't think it's, like, dying out, like it's never going to be there. I think there is going to be guys with one-ies in the top 10. I just think that more people are playing with two handers. It's taught less. One-ies are taught less.

Yeah, I don't know. I think there is always going to be guys with one-ies around, though.