NATIONAL BANK OPEN

August 5, 2025

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/A. Rublev

6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: First of all, congrats, Taylor. Into your first semifinal in Canada, how does it feel now?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, it feels good to be in the semis, happy to get through that. I thought, outside of the 5-4 game when I served for the match, I played a really good match. It was clean, serving well, playing well. Yeah, I'm happy with everything tonight.

Q. Before Andrey broke you, you hadn't been broken since your first match here. Curious what you're seeing about your serve that you like, and how the fast court conditions have helped your serve this week.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I feel like, I would say especially the last two matches, I just feel like any time I've been a bit under pressure I've been coming up with good serves, getting a lot of free points with it. I've been hitting all the spots pretty well. I think that's just the big thing, it feels like it's flowing.

Q. How do you feel about your game this week pivoting to Cincinnati, and then of course with the US Open on the horizon?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I would say tonight I felt the best about my game, just striking the ball-wise. I feel like all week it's kind of been flying, tough to control, easy to miss the ball. It's not just me, just watching any of the other matches, I can seeing people are hitting the ball a lot softer than they normally do, they're playing a lot safer, people are making more mistakes. I think conditions here, it's just tough in general to play.

Tonight for sure it was the most I felt like I could control the ball, and also kind of go after it and feel like I was confident in where it was going. That's obviously a good thing going into the semis.

Q. I want to ask you a general question about yourself and American tennis. Here you're proving to be in great shape ahead of the US Open, where last year you were about to becoming the first American in winning a Grand Slam in men's tennis. Of course, finishing here, Cincinnati, still this year you are the American in the best position to end that negative streak. Is that responsibility a pressure or is it motivation?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I don't think I feel like it's a, I don't feel like I have a responsibility to do it, or I don't feel like people are counting on me or anything. I think all the pressure that I feel is just the pressure that I'm putting on myself. I'm a competitor, I've given my whole life to playing tennis, and that's what I really want is to win a slam.

So the pressure's definitely coming from just me wanting it, and not from anywhere else.

Q. You could be potentially playing Ben the next round. I think you guys only played once, that was at Indian Wells two years back. Curious, I know you guys haven't played much, but how do you think his serve has improved since then? Of course, he's got the speed, but obviously what kind of other dimensions has he added?

TAYLOR FRITZ: To be honest, I'm not sure. I feel like when we played the first time his serve was still huge. I mean, maybe the spots are better. His serve was really good when I played him, whenever it was, like two, three years ago, I'm not sure.

If do I play him, I'll have to watch. It's kind of funny, we've been kind of in the same draw bracket several times, and every single time one of us just loses before we meet each other. But, yeah, it might happen this time.

Q. Andrey was commenting that he feels that this surface at least was like a bit unplayable, in terms of how quick it is. Do you feel the same, and if so do you feel that also it really suits your conditions or your game style?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think it's a combination of the court with the balls. I think if we played with different balls, I guess the other ball we play with, the Dunlop ball, if we played with the Dunlop ball it wouldn't feel unplayable, just because the Dunlop ball's just a lot softer, so it's easier to, the softer ball's going to decel more when it hits the court, and it's going to hold on your racquet a bit more when you make contact, so you can kind of feel like you have a little bit more control.

The combination of these balls on a fast court is really ugly tennis, and that's kind of just how it is. Like I said, tonight was by far the most playable for me. The most control I felt like I had all week. But yeah, in a lot of other matches, I'm hitting shots and missing balls that it seems crazy. Like, I'm struggling to make contact sometimes.

My match two nights ago I feel like I'm hitting, sometimes hitting backhands all the same, and then two go in and one goes 10 feet out, and they all felt the same to me. It is very tough to play.

I will say, now days, I think the ball makes a bigger difference than the courts, in terms of how fast and hard it is to play. But, yeah, I mean, these balls are not bad balls, but they're the toughest to control, and they're the liveliest, for sure. I think when you combo that with a fast court, it's pretty tough for everyone to play.

Q. These are the same balls you'll use in Cincy and the US Open?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I believe so. There's been speculation that the ones that are used at US Open might be specifically for the US Open, and are higher quality, I'm not totally sure. You can always play the best tennis at US Open, but I think that's maybe because the court is a little slower typically than Cincinnati.

I don't ever remember these courts being this fast, but Cincinnati in past years has always been the one where it's like completely lightning, and impossible to play tennis.

Q. Not sure if you have been following the women's event in Montreal, just wondering what you think of Victoria Mboko's run, the 18-year-old Canadian sensation.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, I saw that she beat Coco, but I haven't really been following a ton. I've been playing until 2:00 a.m., and then waking up at like 2:00 p.m.

But, yeah, she's obviously very good. You said she's 18? Yeah, she's obviously a very good player. I haven't gotten a chance to, I guess, see her game and watch her play, so I can't really break it down for you. But just to have those results at a very young age, especially at home too, that's a great feeling. But, yeah, I'm sure she's moving in the right direction of being a top player.

Q. You mentioned earlier in the week how nice your interactions were with the fans and how everybody was treating you. Just a comment on that, a few days removed, and how has it been the past few days and the week as a whole, interacting with the fans here?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think the support's been amazing. I think the comment I made was specifically the fact that I was playing Gabe, he was the last Canadian in the tournament. And I've played some home players, and I've been in some really hostile environments, playing people in their home country. And the comment I made was I felt like the crowd was extremely nice to me, given the circumstances of the match. I was expecting, you know, it to be worse for me. So it just shows how nice people are, and, yeah, I've really enjoyed the support all week.

Q. At the start of the tournament you're obviously having a day off between matches. Now if you go on to win you're going to play three consecutive days. Just curious how you just approach that difference in just the day off, to then having to play consecutive matches.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I think one thing that helps a lot is just to be very mentally ready and prepared for it. Because I've been on this kind of body clock of like I'm going to play, and then the next day I don't need to worry about anything. I'm going to go practice and have a light hit, it doesn't have to be high intensity, I don't need to be super locked in for, it, it's like a recovery day.

So, yeah, it's important that I saw the schedule of when I was going to be doubling up days ago. So I already knew, like once I make it to the quarterfinals, I'm going to play every day. So mentally, even before the match today going into it I understand that if I win, I play every day. I'm mentally just prepared and ready for that.

It helps a lot that it was a straight-setter, not too physical. I think if I would have played the match I played a couple days ago, and had to come back the next day, that would have been absolutely brutal.

I'm mentally ready, and I think, again, with the match today, I think I'll also be physically ready, because it wasn't a, you know, insane like three-hour match.

Q. You mentioned you're getting back to the hotel at 2:00 a.m. Have you been able to enjoy the city?

TAYLOR FRITZ: No, there's been absolutely no time to do anything. I think, no, I get back to the hotel at 2:00 a.m. I finished my match the other night at 1:30 a.m. So not much time for anything.

I think all I can do is sleep as much as possible, come to the courts, practice, do what I got to do, play my matches, and get my meals in, and that's about it.