US OPEN

September 8, 2024

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

J. SINNER/T. Fritz

6-3, 6-4, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, if you would, your thoughts on the match.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, it was a really tough match for me. I think I had, you know, a plan of what I wanted to do going out, but a lot of -- I mean, some parts of it I did well, and a lot of parts of it I didn't, definitely didn't, I guess, hit the ball as well as I expected to. That's something that's big if I wanted to just go back and forth and ball-strike with him, because he's such an amazing ball striker.

Yeah, I felt like I served, improved the serve a lot in the second set. The first set my serve was really struggling. Then third set started to kind of put it together a bit more with just hitting the ball, hitting my forehand a little bit better. Put myself in a good position to win the third, but just, I mean, he played a good game when I went to serve it out.

But, yeah, that's just kind of how it goes, when you're playing, you know, he's the best player in the world right now. My plan A is not working. The plan B that I fall back on, you know, would normally be just like bringing everything in, being a little bit safer, grinding it out.

You know, that works, along with my serve, against a lot of other players, but against him, I tried to kind of bring it down, not be as aggressive, and he's just gonna bully me a little bit too much. So, you know, it was tough that I guess my plan A wasn't really working for me until, like, the third set I started to kind of get it going.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. When you play such an emotional and long semifinal, I am curious, did Friday have any impact on today? If so, was it more physical or was it more emotional having to recover from that?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I don't really think it had too much of an impact. I think my body didn't feel like amazing maybe yesterday, but, I mean, like, we're six matches in, it's the finals of a slam. I don't really expect to be feeling, like, fresh, you know. So all things considered, I think my body felt fine.

Mentally, honestly I thought it was a good thing I was very, I guess, nervous going into the semifinal. I didn't feel anywhere near as nervous going into this match as I did in the semis. So I thought emotionally, you know, it's obviously the US Open final, I want to win it, it's a really big moment. But I felt like emotionally I was going to be okay, because I knew it wasn't going to be as bad as it was before my semifinal match, and I found a way to get through that.

Q. Frances was saying the other day how different it feels now, how much more open it feels and this tournament has really reinforced that, compared to the Big 3 peak eras. How do you feel going forward? How much more confident or how much more open it feels now?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, obviously Carlos and Novak and some people lost early on in this tournament, so it really opened up the draw a lot. You can only really beat who is in front of you.

But, I mean, I think it's really positive for me, because I don't feel like at any specific point in these two weeks, I don't feel like I was playing, like, amazing tennis, I guess. I feel like I was, I mean, playing solid, like, nothing, I guess, special. I feel like I haven't been hitting my backhand as good as I like to, haven't been serving as good as I like to. Luckily I can still get away with it and hold.

Maybe it is a bit more open. I don't think you have to, I don't know, play unbelievable to go deep in tournaments and contend. Like I said, it's different. Novak and Carlos lost, you know. I would have had to play a really, really great match if I happen to play Novak somewhere else in the draw.

But yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, you can find yourself a little deeper in the draws, like, quarterfinals and stuff if you just play solid tennis. I still think to beat the top guys you need to bring your best game.

Q. Taylor, it had been a little bit of time since you had played Jannik. Has he improved in that span? If so, are there specific things you could point to that make it feel more challenging or difficult against him?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, I'd say he's definitely improved a little bit since I beat him in straight sets at Indian Wells in 2021. (Laughter.)

Yeah, the biggest improvement by far is his serve. If I'm going to go back -- because I played him, I played last year in Indian Wells, and he had already improved his serve. I think from then I don't think the improvement is, like, a ton. I think he was very, very good at that point, and he had just kind of been injured, pulled out of a lot of tournaments when he was already deep into it. At that time he was ranked outside the top 10 maybe. I got kind of a tough draw, was the top-8 seed, and I had to play him.

But I think at that point he was very close to -- you know, he's improved now with confidence and winning, but I think he was very close to the level at that point, he just had yet to show all of the results. Because after that, he lost to Carlos that week, won Miami the next week, was unbelievable all last year and starting this year, as well. I think that was kind of, like, the start of it.

If I want to go to, like, the 2021 Indian Wells, yeah, the serve and the movement, massive improvements. I could find myself in a lot of return games just off of his first serve. I felt like I could get myself in points off of his first serve every time. Then it was much easier to hurt him from the ground, as well. So he's much faster, a lot better out of the corners. His serve is really good now.

Q. Understanding that the match didn't end all that long ago, can you appreciate what you've done in this tournament? Can you define this tournament as a success, or do you have to wait a little while?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Not yet. There's obviously a lot of positives, and when I get some time to, like, cool down, you know, then I'll be happy about the fact that I made it to the finals and stuff like that. But right now I'm pretty just disappointed in how, like, just a lot of things on the court, how I played, how I hit certain shots. It sucks.

And I'm not saying that it necessarily would have made a difference. I don't know if it would have, but I just would have liked to have played better and given myself a better chance. It's really disappointing right now. I feel like, I don't know, I feel like the fans obviously, American fans, been wanting a men's champion for a long time, and I just, I don't know, I'm pretty upset with how I played. I feel like, I don't know, I feel like I almost let a lot of people down.

Q. When you came out onto the court, you looked pretty confident. And I just wondered, the whole occasion generally, was it different to how you expected it in any way once the match actually got underway?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Not really. I think just kind of walking on the court and just, like, hearing the crowd go crazy and just kind of, like, soaking in the moment of, like, you know, like, I'm walking out to play my match on Ashe in the US Open finals is what I dreamed about my whole life. It almost got me emotional, but I was just really happy and ready to enjoy the moment.

Like I said, because I didn't feel, like, overly nervous, I felt pretty good, I just really expected to come out and play better from the start.

Q. You go from here to Berlin for Laver Cup. Is there some comfort in rejoining your friends, countrymen, over there in that team competition?

TAYLOR FRITZ: For sure. I think coming from just, like, the highs of playing the US Open at home with the crowd, and then also just being so mentally locked in for these two weeks, it would be really tough to go play, like, another, like, individual tournament that's not gonna have the same, like, just energy of playing. Like, nothing really matches being an American playing the US Open.

So it's amazing I'm going to get to go play just a really fun event that I enjoy with all of my friends. Because it's pretty impossible for me to not be fired up, like, playing a match when I have all these guys on the bench, like, kind of going crazy for me. Also, like, it's just a fun tournament or event to just compete in and be with the group of guys.

So, yeah, it's a good time in the calendar for this, I think, just kind of play that, and then almost, like, recharge a little bit mentally to go, I guess, grind it out in Asia afterwards.

Q. Given what you were sick of being asked about, and what you hadn't had the opportunity to do before, what do you think you proved to yourself at this tournament?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think the biggest thing is like I said before: I played solid this week, but I played very within myself. I don't think I at any point was, like, Wow, I'm playing incredible, or I'm playing out of my mind.

I think that's just extremely reassuring to me that I was able to get to this point, just playing solid tennis. I know that there's still a lot of room for improvement. And something I've said throughout my entire career, whether it's when I won my first ATP point or I won my first challenger or I made my first round of 16 or whatever it is, I've always said once I do something once, I just feel a lot more confident in being able to do it again.

That's something that's always stuck with me. Sometimes it's taken me some time to get to a certain achievement, but I've always felt like once I've done something, I gain a lot of confidence that I can do it again.

So it is a great feeling to have gotten to this point, knowing that, you know, I'm playing well, but I'm playing very within myself, and I feel like it's repeatable.