ROLEX SHANGHAI MASTERS

October 11, 2024

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/D. Goffin

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, well done. What were you most pleased of in today's performance?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I was just, you know, really locked in start to finish, played a great match. Got broken in the first when I was up a break, which is always frustrating, but, you know, came back from it, got the break back again. Served better as the match went on, especially in the second set.

Yeah, just played a really good match. Played aggressive, took my chances. It's an easy match to maybe tighten up and play a bit safer, but I did a great job of kind of just staying aggressive and taking my chances.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. That was impressive on many levels, but especially your serve today seemed like a really strong feature of your game. Do you feel like that's one of the most improved areas for you?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think my serve's always been a huge part of my game. It's always been, you know, one of the best, if not the best part of my game. But I think in general this year, this whole year, I have felt like I've been in a better rhythm with my serve. There's been times where it hasn't felt maybe as good as I would like it to, but yeah, especially in the last match and then this match, even more so in the second set of this match, yeah, I feel like I'm serving a good percentage and hitting spots very well.

Q. You had your first Grand Slam final at the US Open, what do you think you've learned about yourself this year?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think the biggest thing that I can take away from a lot of the good results, and confidence that I can gain from a lot of these things is just I am a very, like, improved player just at my average level. I don't need to play incredible to have amazing results.

That's something that I think I used to stress a lot about, being very hypercritical of my game certain weeks. If something wasn't working for me, if I wasn't feeling like I was playing amazing, then I would almost like write the week off and be like, Oh, well, maybe I can win a couple matches, but this isn't really going to be the week for me, I'm not playing well enough.

If a lot of my results this year, US Open included, taught me anything, it's that I don't need to be playing perfect to have deep runs in tournaments and to have big results. You know, just my average level has improved a lot, and it's gotten me to a level where, if I compete really hard and focus really hard and just do that, you know, a lot of times it will be enough to, you know, get me deep in the tournaments.

Q. I just wonder if you could look ahead to the semi-final now, you could face either Djokovic or Mensik. What are your thoughts on both of them?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, obviously we'll have to wait and see who I play. If it's Mensik, he's very good, young player. I played him once, but two years ago, it was kind of like his first breakthrough, big match. He's improved a lot since then, matured a lot as a player since then, he's playing really well. Obviously, if I were to play him he would be coming off of a huge win on Novak, so feeling really confident.

If it's Novak, you know, we played a lot of times, and I've never gotten him, so I'm really, really just waiting for that, you know, excited for the chance, and waiting for that time when, you know, maybe I can get a first win on him. So, that is something I, you know, I would be really excited about.

Obviously, incredibly tough. I think, it could be 0-10, but I think it's 0-9 (smiling), but, you know, hopefully one of these times I'm due, because I'm only getting better and better and, yeah, I'm excited at the opportunity to play him if it's him.

Q. Rafa has been dominating the headlines in the tennis world over the last 24 hours, and you two have, you know, played a couple of fantastic games, so what do you make of his retirement at this moment?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I think a lot of people saw a retirement announcement coming. I think I was very surprised to see it's at Davis Cup, you know. I think a lot of people would have expected French Open, or Madrid, Barcelona, something like that.

Obviously he's tried for a long time to get healthy, and, you know, I think the announcement coming now, and the retirement coming at Davis Cup just shows he's tried for a very long time to play, and this is going to be it.

Yeah, I was very fortunate to get to, you know, play Rafa a couple times, kind of in his last full year of playing healthy, and, I mean, I guess not fully healthy, but his last full year of playing a relatively solid schedule.

But yeah, it's much deeper than that. Rafa is someone that I grew up watching, you know, him and Roger dominate the sport, and it's been an honor to be able to be playing in the same time as someone who I watched on TV as a little kid. So, it's been, you know, it's been, like I said, an honor to be able to get to play him, and, yeah, it's the end of an era.

Q. I just wanted to ask how you're feeling physically. The other day you said you were feeling pretty awful, just at the end of the season, so how are you sort of feeling after, yeah, that match, and looking forward?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I'm fine. I think it's been a long season, like pretty much any player will tell you. We're coming up on the home stretch, and when I kind of get deeper into a tournament, past the first couple rounds, then it gets a lot easier for me to really lock in and give it absolutely everything I have.

So, I feel good, as good as I can feel after playing however many matches I played this year, like 50 or 60 matches, something crazy. But like I said yesterday, at this time of the year, anyone that's played a full season, everyone's banged up, everyone's got something going on, no one's feeling fresh, a hundred percent healthy.

So, it's about not complaining about what you might have going on, and understanding, look, everyone's dealing with the same thing, and kind of just have to power through and finish strong.