NATIONAL BANK OPEN

July 28, 2025

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, how do you feel in the thick of the North American summer that's one of your favorite swings of the year?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I feel good. I feel really motivated to play good tennis, have some good weeks leading into the US Open. I feel like just ready to play, like mentally ready. I feel like last week I was playing pretty good tennis as well.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. You're going to be competing in the mixed doubles with Elena. How competitive do you think it's going to be with the prize money and the Grand Slam on the line, and has there been any friendly trash talk with Frances or anything?

TAYLOR FRITZ: No trash talk, I think it's a little too early for that one. I think everyone's going to be really serious, to be honest. I think that everyone wants to win, like it is any tournament. With the prize money and with it being obviously like a real title as well, I think just the field, it's like we're all competitors, we're not showing up there to mess around. I think we're all, I can't speak for everyone, but I know Elena and myself are definitely there to win.

Q. Curious how your game has grown and improved since making the US Open final last year.

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think post-US Open, I feel like in between the US Open and ATP Finals last year I feel like I did some things to improve my forehand a little bit. It gets down to like a lot of little specific things. I felt like this year as well I'm serving better than I was last year, definitely, at the US Open. I'm hitting all the spots a bit better, more consistently this year.

I'm trying to move better. I'm not sure if I am moving better, but it feels all right. Yeah, always just trying to make little improvements on everything.

Q. General question about tennis related to the tournaments coming up in North America. After Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz said that he feels right now him and Sinner are better than everyone else. But actually you had some very close games with Alcaraz in Wimbledon. My question is, do you see, like what is the difference that you see right now between Alcaraz, Sinner, and everyone else, and how beatable do you see them ahead of the US Open?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, obviously we had a pretty close match at Wimbledon. But, yeah, I mean, you can't argue the fact that they're outperforming, those two are outperforming the field, so that's a fair thing to say.

I think a lot of it depends on the conditions. I think in the right conditions and the right, like if the court's decent speed, I feel they're both beatable. I think several players, if the right conditions are met, you know, if they're not playing their best. In tennis, just the way tennis is, some people, there are small margins. You win the big points, someone's having a really good serving day, a really good day, they're a little bit off, like they're very beatable. If you want to tell me how beatable they are on their best day, then that's a little bit different.

Yeah, there's always going to be openings, just depending on the conditions, and if someone has a really good day or a really bad day, it's possible.

Q. You've had a very busy summer already with a full grass court swing and then going to DC and now coming here to Toronto. Some of your top-10 contemporaries have opted for some rest. We're very happy to have you here. Could you maybe share a little bit about your mentality to continue to play and play the busy schedule that you do?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, this is a tough part of the year because there's not really any weeks that make sense to take off. It's 1000s, and to be honest, last week, and don't get me wrong, I really like DC and I like playing the tournament, but with how busy my grass court schedule was, I would have probably opted out of it. But there's a new rule you have to play a certain amount of 500 events or you get a zero on your record. Because I was injured in the year, I missed two 500s, so I actually had to play DC in order to give myself a chance to meet my, like, 500 quota for the year.

So I'm going to be honest, I don't think that's the best rule, because I was injured earlier this year, and yeah, I felt like I really could have used a rest week.

But yeah, being here I feel like it's been enough time since Wimbledon to come back here. I think a lot of the guys are obviously prioritizing the US Open, and they don't want to come out here, play this, play Cincy, and be burnt out for the US Open. So it's just priorities.

For me, obviously being from North America, it's a swing that I enjoy playing, and I'm excited to be here. But, yeah, I see, for some of the European guys, how it can be, you know, it's a lot, and they want to prioritize probably US Open.

Q. Coming back to what Wimbledon was for you, which was a very successful tournament, even though you lost in semifinals, but it's your best performance in Wimbledon, and you lost against Alcaraz in a very close match. What was your biggest takeaway of that matchup, because I know conditions are going to be different at US Open, but you are there, in the past two years you had your best results in every Grand Slam. So what was the biggest takeaway of that matchup, or just in general how close you are to just maybe potentially winning a slam?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, my takeaway from that match is like I'm, obviously I'm still improving. I played well in that match, but I still believe there's things that I can do better.

I think I'm happy with how I played the second set of that match and how I played the fourth set of that match. I think there's things I could have done better in the first and the third.

I think, yeah, obviously you're not always going to play perfect, but I think that, I guess what keeps me going is believing in my mind that I can improve enough to where I'll go out and I can play every set how I played the second and the fourth. Now let's see what happens if I can do that, and if I can produce that level for a full five-set match.

Obviously that's what gives me hope and makes it so I can keep working hard and keep improving, because I think, even though I'm older, I'm older than those guys, I'm still constantly improving and getting better. And I don't see a reason to, you know, if anything, it's encouraging that I feel like I'm getting closer.

Obviously they're going to probably keep improving, but yeah, I've been moving in a constant direction for the last couple years, so I just need to kind of keep it up.

Q. You totally get, like this is tennis and this is how it goes, with the margins being so thin. But like in baseball, the difference between a home run and a foul ball is like an eighth of an inch. That fourth set against Carlos you're an eighth of an inch away from forcing a fifth set, and then like 90 seconds later it's over. What's the balance mentally of trying not to replay especially something like that over and over again, kind of move on from it, realize what you've done, while at the same time being like, man, it was that close.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, I think it's fine to, at least for the next like week to, I mean, I wasn't doing anything for the next week, but, yeah, to think about it and think about all the things I could have done differently.

Yeah, I think one of the balls I probably should have, I didn't want to, I had like a ball to attack. And I still attacked it, but I could have played it bigger. I just didn't want to like give him a free point in that situation. So I think I learned a lesson of like, next time in that situation I'm going to go for it a bit more.

Then on 6-4 I served a first serve that was like on the outside part of the line, but if I'm being a little bit nitpicky the toss was a little bit to the right, so the trajectory of the ball was, even though the spot was good, it kind of came back into him a bit more. If I would have hit it more, tossed it a bit more over my head, the line would have been better and it probably actually would have been an ace. So really nitpicky, but it's not something that I ever carry into the next tournament.

I turn around and I say, It was a good match, I had my chances, I didn't take it. A lot of times that's what separates the absolute best from the rest. That's one of the many reasons why Carlos is where he is, is he pulls out those kind of matches. And, you know, I think I learned that lesson that I can't play that moment to, you know, hope that me being a little bit safe is enough, I have to go and I have to take it.

Q. Talking about the season kind of turning the corner and into the back stretch. I'm curious, for you, how much do you think about the fact that, okay, maybe, yes, some guys on the tour are a little burnt out. This is a section that I really like, it's a big opportunity, maybe mentally, energy-wise, all that sort of stuff it's a big opportunity. I know that when the tour turns to Asia it's kind of the same thing. Like people who embrace it tend to do it better than people who are kind of like burned out. So how do you manage that mentally?

TAYLOR FRITZ: This sounds like, I guess, not the best answer, but sometimes you get to a tournament and you are burnt out, and that's, like it's tough. It's tough to do anything about it. Like for me personally, right now I feel good, I feel ready to play. I think a lot of that is due to the fact that I spent a good amount of the beginning of the year injured. Even when I was playing tournaments I was not playing in between tournaments, trying to get healthy.

So I think, as far as like burnout goes, I've had probably more time away from tennis than I have in previous years. Even if, you know, if you all don't see that, because a lot of it has been like in between tournaments, not really practicing or playing, to make sure I was healthier earlier in the year.

So I'm in a good spot. But yeah, I think any time you can show up to a tournament that a lot of players are like, I'm not really feeling it, burnt out. I would say Paris is one of those, like, end of the year, some people are kind of just ready to be done with the year.

So yeah, any time you can show up to those tournaments feeling motivated and ready to play, yeah, it's a huge advantage.