THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 1, 2025

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/G. Mpetshi Perricard

6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, a battle out there, but you came through. How are you feeling?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I feel great obviously. I think I was in a really bad spot in that match, despite feeling like I was playing well and doing everything that I kind of wanted to do out there.

Yeah, I'm happy to get it done.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did you sleep with that fifth set hanging over you? How did the find the conditions today compared to yesterday?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, I slept fine. I obviously wanted to play last night. That's just because I do feel we had the time to play the fifth set last night. If we didn't have the time, then I understand there's no point of starting it. We could have played if we both agreed to play.

I think he didn't want to. That's totally understandable. I wasn't bothered or I guess upset at him for not wanting to play. I totally, like, get it.

But I still felt confident. I think it would have been easy for me to get frustrated about not being able to play last night. To be honest, I felt confident going into the fifth set if it was last night or today.

I had to tell myself he's going to be sleeping on what just happened in the fourth set. I'm going to come back and keep doing what I was doing.

Q. How were the conditions today?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Maybe just a little bit faster. Slightly. Not too different. Obviously with the roof open there's going to be a little bit of wind, just a bit. I do feel like the roof closed probably helped him a lot because the ball is just not moving at all. There's nothing affecting the ball. It's very easy to tee off, strike it. That's how I've always felt with the roof closed, as well.

Q. You thought the roof closed was an advantage for him, but yet you wanted to keep playing. Is that momentum over conditions? What did the conversation go with? What do you think of that rule?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, I just felt like last night I was going to win. I felt very confident if we kept playing, I felt good about it. Yeah, I do think the conditions...

He was playing great and anything could have happened last night. It was more just like I felt like we had the time to play. I was mentally in the head space of, like, we are finishing this match tonight.

They told us before the match, Hey, are you good to play till 11? We're going to stop at 11. When I'm looking at the clock at the end of the fourth set, I'm thinking, Oh, it's 10, there's no way they're going to stop us. We're for sure playing this fifth set. The idea of stopping wasn't even in my mind. I was fully tunnel visioned on this match is finishing tonight.

What happened was I get it. We both have to agree. If we don't, then the referee makes a decision. What I didn't understand, the referee, after he said what his decision was, he kept asking me. I think he just wanted me to, like, agree with him.

I said, I don't know why you keep asking me because I want to play. Stop asking me because you already said we're not playing.

I didn't get that.

Q. The question of why they came at 10, 10:15 to ask, what was the argument? What was the tournament's side of that?

TAYLOR FRITZ: It was if we both agreed, then we could have played.

Q. Why is the question being posed? Why did they have to come down?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I understand because hypothetically speaking, the rule is a hard stop at 11. It's more convenient to stop in the beginning of a fifth set than it is to stop if we are, again, hypothetically speaking, 45 minutes in. Maybe we're, I don't know, in the middle of a 10-point tiebreaker at 6-All. That's probably where we would be at that time frame if we don't finish.

I get it. What I was willing to do and what I told the referee is, If there's no break, if we're 5-All, stop at 5-All. That's fine. We are 100% getting to 5-All in that time frame. If someone breaks, then the match is for sure finishing in that time frame.

That's kind of like where I was saying compromise-wise, I understand. You get to 11, you're in a really awkward point in the match to stop, then you would have wished you I guess did what we did today.

Q. What in that moment is it like having a 153-mile-an-hour serve coming at you? What is the key to winning the point 100% of the time?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I don't really mind it because it actually gives me absolutely zero time to think. Normally when I start thinking, that's when I mess things up (smiling).

The fact that it's just all reflexes. I think that's one of the things I do better in my return game, when I like to stand close, chip, holding a backhand grip. It's just handsy and it's reflexes. I'd much rather deal with the speed than the spot.

Q. Tommy was joking saying you were once a serve bot, now you're just a bot because you're really good at everything. What do you think of that term? Is it disrespectful?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I guess it depends. It depends on who you are. We use it as like a funny term. If someone calls me a bot, I take it as a compliment. I'm a complete bot, I just want to go out and hold serve.

Yeah, I mean, it depends if the person you're talking to is going to get offended by it or not.

Q. What is the threshold? Reilly?

TAYLOR FRITZ: If I call Reilly a bot, he thinks it's hilarious. He knows he is (smiling).

Q. There are a few of them around.

TAYLOR FRITZ: I'll be honest, we use it pretty loosely. Anyone who is a good server, they're like a bot. We use it as a compliment just to say that this person has a good serve.

To be honest, in this match I lost a lot of really big points that had nothing to do with the serve. I mean, that is why the first and second set kind of got away from me. I lost some neutral rally points that I thought I played really well, where he genuinely outplayed me from the baseline. That's where the first and second set went wrong for me.

Q. Do you think they have the balance right between having a fast-paced game but also making it not too fast that we get back to where we were in the early noughties?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, I think the speed is pretty solid. One thing I realized this year that I haven't realized in past years with all the tournaments I have been playing, I actually feel like the is getting slower the more it's played on. It plays faster when it's newer.

I do feel like last year when I was in the quarterfinals, I felt like it was so slow. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely in a decent spot. I'm biased, I would like it a little bit faster. As long as they don't make it slower, I think it's fine.

Q. Perricard says he could serve at about 167 miles an hour in the future. Is that realistic?

TAYLOR FRITZ: He did 153? If he did 153, he could potentially do close to 160 in the right conditions. The question I have is: Why? There's no point. It's much better to hit 140 to a spot than just hit the ball, serve as hard as you can (laughter).

Q. When you're playing another server like him, is there any part of you that relishes the challenge of we're kind of canceling each other out, now it's down to all of the other stuff, your well-rounded game, the mental side?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, historically I feel like I really enjoy playing other big servers. I feel like in the past I've done... I'd say I have a pretty good record against other big servers. I know I can go out and take care of my serve.

To be honest, I feel like I sometimes return big server serves as well as I return someone with not as good of a serve, to be honest. I think parts of it just work for me. I like returning with some pace. I don't need to take such a big swing to return. It more turns into feel.

Obviously I think it takes a little bit of pressure off my return games when I feel like I can hold a bit easier. Yeah, I'm not entirely sure, but I thought I returned his serve yesterday and today about as well as I possibly could. I think I definitely did my job returning-wise in all the sets.

I think the sets that I lost definitely weren't because I wasn't returning serve. I put myself in really good opportunities. It was more I just lost some rallies and didn't convert some chances on my own serve.

Q. Do you prefer in these tournaments such as Wimbledon with a curfew, you can consider it an extended more practice day with extra sets, or do you like in New York and Melbourne, matches that can go to 2, 3 a.m. in the morning and recover the next day?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I would probably prefer to just have the late finish and then the extra day of recovery because I'd say physically this scenario that we did is better, but mentally it's much tougher. I don't get that day where I can relax a bit and mentally, like, reset, get my mind on the next match.

I was fully locked in for this match yesterday. I was last night afterwards. I didn't get a chance to rest, which normally you would after finishing a match. I wake up today, my mind is on this match. Now I immediately have to stay focused and readjust for this next match.

I'd say the mental part of it is more important. At least if I finish very late I still get that whole entire day to just mentally reset and not worry that I'm playing a match the next day.

Q. There are a lot of mothers on tour back playing, which is great. We talk a lot about that from a physical side for obvious reasons. As a father, is it at all difficult to be on tour and travel when you have a child away from you?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I wish the season was shorter for a lot of reasons. I mean, that's a big one. I think every time I get to go home, I try to do the best I can with maximizing the time I can spend with my son. I wish it was an easier situation where I could also bring him on tour with me. There's things that are a preventing that from happening.

Yeah, I wish there was an easy fix or easy answer for it, but there's not. I just need to, as I said, do the best I can to maximize my time when I'm not at tournaments. Also just FaceTime calls when I'm on the road.

Q. You said you used the term 'serve bot' a bit loosely. Your next opponent has a pretty decent serve. How do you look at that matchup?

TAYLOR FRITZ: We say 'bot' as a compliment. He's a bot, but he's good. Obviously he can play. He can play from the back of the court. I practiced with him. He honestly has a very well-rounded game and can do a bit of everything.