ROLEX SHANGHAI MASTERS

October 7, 2024

Taylor Fritz

Mixed Zone

T. FRITZ/T. Atmane

7-6, 7-6

Q. Firstly, congratulations. It must have felt good to finally get that one done.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, obviously it's been, like, several days. I was excited last night when I got to see that. I mean, I don't normally like being first on, but at least when I got to see that I was on center, so this match was for sure going to be happening.

It's tough to get ready, you know, three days in a row to play a match, and not even be sure if you're actually going to play, so it was great to know that today was happening.

Q. What did you do yesterday? How did you spend the day?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Well, luckily, again, I woke up, and I was going to have to wake up at like 7:30, and come here super early. We just knew it was raining. I wasn't here all day, but, yeah, I spent like four hours here. I was able to hit indoors, and I did kind of prepare for the match because I thought there was going to be a window where we might get out there.

Then, once everything was cancelled, I just went home. So it wasn't, you know, I didn't spend too much time here.

Q. The match today, you seemed like you just had everything under control out there. Were you happy with your performance?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Definitely happy with how I played, but I wouldn't necessarily say I felt like I had everything under control, because, you know, he was serving big and firing off a lot of winners. There was a lot of points where I feel like I didn't do anything wrong, but I was still losing. You know, there was a lot left in, I guess, in his control, which is kind of how it has to be sometimes when the person is just, you know, pulling shots on balls that I don't expect him to go for, and, you know, pulling shots before I feel like I've had a look in a point to maybe go for something that I want to go for.

There's two things you can do, you can either just say, Okay, if you want to make all these shots, then you're going to win, and just stay solid, or I can, I guess, adjust and try to be even more aggressive than I would have liked to. I didn't really think there was a need for me to do that, so I just tried to stay with it, and, you know, hope that he wasn't going to just be able to just fire winners and huge serves on every big point.

Q. Next match, Yosuke Watanuki for a second year in a row here, I believe. Any thoughts on that one?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, if he plays like he played here last year, then it's going to be really scary. Last year was kind of what I was just describing, a guy just hitting huge serves and hitting winners on pretty much every shot. So, if he does that, then, again, it's going to be one of those matches where I just have to be solid and do the best I can do, because if he's just firing off winners like he was here last year, then it's going to be really tough.

Q. Obviously you're in a great place in your career, having just contested at the US Open final. Do you feel like you've arrived as a different player this year?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think last year when I was here I was also playing at a very high level. I think, I would say, the last three years of my career I think I've been a different player, but, I mean, obviously coming here confident, and then, you know, in a really great spot in the Race for the year, and I'm hoping to finish the year strong.