ROLAND GARROS

May 28, 2024

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/F. Coria

2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Well done, Taylor. How difficult were the conditions out there today?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, it was tough kind of stop/starting. It wasn't too bad. I've played in worse.

I think the toughest thing about it was the fact that the match just got moved from, like, the schedule to get put on. So, you know, we were 30 minutes out of the match before us, like, coming back from the rain and starting.

It's a three-out-of-five men's match, so it was pretty safe it's going to be at least two hours. So I'm just chilling on the couch in the locker room. I'm under the impression that there is minimum two-and-a-half hours before I play. Then they just tell me I'm on in 30 minutes.

So it's really tough to mentally prepare myself to go on in 30 minutes, which I pushed. I said, No chance. I pushed it to 45 minutes. It's still so tough to mentally prepare to go on in that short of time when I've had it set in my mind it's going to be minimum two-and-a-half hours. I think that was the toughest thing about it.

Today for me, my whole process I feel like normally is like an hour and a half, so to just go out on I guess what I thought was short notice was tough to mentally be there at the start of the match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Is that why you came out a little bit slow? You lost that first set 6-2, and then all of a sudden it was kind of lopsided from there.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I think he played really well, like, in the beginning of the match. I thought he played very well.

Yeah, I wasn't playing my best, but a lot of that is, like I said, I like to kind of get ready, start getting my mind ready, and, like, prepared about an hour and a half before I play.

Like I said, I was just on the couch in the locker room watching videos on my phone, like, relaxing, and now I'm on in 30 minutes where I thought I was, minimum, I'm following a match that hasn't started yet, two-and-a-half hours.

Yeah, there was no way for me to, like, mentally -- I guess, like, I'm on the court 45 minutes after that. It was very tough to just mentally, like, be ready to be there.

Q. Last time I saw you was in Munich, speaking of trying conditions. Was that a good preparation in a way that you had to play through, I don't know, 5 degrees Celsius and rain?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, absolutely. That's exactly what I was thinking of when I just said conditions weren't too bad. I've played through a lot worse.

Yeah, there's literally nothing compared to Munich. That court in Munich also takes water pretty well. It was absolutely pouring the whole final. It didn't really become, I'd say, a problem until it was like a set and a half into the match. Only then it started getting a little bit slippery.

Yeah, really good preparation. I think after you've played through that, it's not going to get any crazier.

Q. Would you mind taking us through what your normal prematch process is, what sort of things you're doing? Maybe give us a little idea of whether you had to, like, cut some things out, or you were just trying to go through everything more quickly than you normally would?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I got through everything pretty quickly. It was definitely more the mental side of it. I'm mentally checked out for another two hours, or another hour and a half at least, because there's no way I'm going to be on before that.

To get myself in the mindset -- and a lot of people aren't going to understand it. They're going to be like, oh, 30, 45 minutes, you have plenty of time.

I get it, and I also understand, like, the fact they want to get my match in. They don't know if I'm going to get in following. I just think I should have way more -- there's no way I'm on before two-and-a-half hours, I should probably have more notice than, like, 45 minutes.

Like I said, I got through my whole process. It is just like I'm relaxing for a bit, I like to grip racquets, shower, eat, shower, change. It is pretty simple stuff.

But it's more just like the mental preparation the whole time. I'm, like, in the mindset of I'm getting ready for the match, I'm going to get ready to go out and play and all this. It's more just like I'm in my mind checked out for this amount of time because I'm not going to play. Then now all of a sudden I'm on the court and I haven't had that time to, like, I'm ready to go, I guess.

Q. With your game, what adjustments, if any, you make when conditions are kind of as heavy as this? Do you do different things with your serve or groundstrokes?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Honestly, it's not even like the conditions. Like, today it was slow, but even when the sun is out here, it's very slow. These balls are very, very, like, heavy and they're soft, as well. So when they hit the court they don't really move. They kind of just, like, slow down a lot.

So it's just slow regardless of the conditions. I feel like it's been a big change. All the stuff that's kind of been working for me the whole clay court season playing with different balls isn't really working. I've been, like, loving playing, like, my forehand really high and heavy. Now I do that with these balls and the ball just kind of sits there, it's not heavy. It kind of just sits up there for people to attack.

Adjustments I made today were definitely I was just trying to step in and flatten the ball way more, especially off my forehand, which I've barely flattened my forehand in, like, a month and a half, because I've just been playing everything spinny and heavy, and it's been working great.

Yeah, these conditions, these balls, like, if you spin the ball, and you're not, like, I don't know, you don't have one of heaviest, highest RPM balls on tour, it doesn't actually go anywhere. You kind of just have to stand closer and hit through way more. I feel like I'm definitely having to play it a bit less like a clay court and a bit more like a hard court, because all the lifting clay court style tennis I've been doing just doesn't really work for me with these balls.

Q. Has that ever happened to you before where you got, like, such a short notice? Did it screw up your eating?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I got lucky. I ate pretty early, because I was under the impression that the match did have a window where it went out for a short second, like, I think they warmed up -- I think they walked out there, then it rained and they went back.

So I ate then when they were walking out. Because I was, in my mind at that moment, preparing, okay, this could be, if it doesn't rain from now on, they just got sent out, I could be on in two hours. That's when I would eat normally. So I did eat early enough, so it was fine.

I guess that's a good example of me kind of prepping for I'm second on, they just went out, and then they get off the court, then it's not before. So obviously, like I said, I'm not preparing to play any time within two-and-a-half hours.

Q. Your next opponent is Dusan Lajovic. Your last clay court match was in Lyon in 2018. A lot has changed from then?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I'm a lot better player, because look, he beat me so bad in that match, I remember (smiling).

I had no idea back then on how to play clay court tennis or play on a clay court, and that was me playing someone who is naturally a very good clay courter. Yeah, he killed me.

Luckily it was a long time ago, and I'm a much better player now. I still think it's going to be very tough match. He's very good on clay.

But we'll see. I like my chances a lot more than I did back then.

Q. Did you watch his match last night? It finished at midnight.

TAYLOR FRITZ: I did not.