US OPEN

August 31, 2025

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/T. Machac

6-4, 6-3, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, congratulations. Convincing win. Your thoughts on your match today.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I thought it was definitely the best match I have played so far this tournament. I think that makes sense, as well. It's hard probably for everyone to believe, but I think the last two matches I played prior to this one, so windy even on Armstrong, like incredibly windy, front to back.

So it's felt very hard to play, to just play when I have to hit the ball completely different every two games when I switch sides. So I thought today it was nice. I was able to actually get in a rhythm and feel like I could play the same way on both sides and returned well, served really well.

You know, he made some mistakes at, I guess, good times for me, but, you know, it was a really good mix between me being consistent and me pulling the trigger, being aggressive.

Yeah, I'm really happy with it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You guys have had some good matches in the past, saved a couple match points earlier. It's a completely different scoreline. How were you able to open it up and control it so well tonight?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think one thing, the conditions change a lot. I think when we played in Sydney, and he was definitely beating me pretty good in that match, that just felt, it felt slower. That just felt like I couldn't hurt him ever in that match.

This match felt different. There's more mistakes in general made with these balls, when we play with these balls, people miss more, it's easier to put the ball away. I was serving well, put a lot of returns in the court.

I think last time we played, he was getting a ton of free points on his serve. I think I did a really good job of returning, and not only putting returns in the court but getting them deep, as well.

Yeah, I mean, I just played a very solid match. He can fluctuate quite a bit. His top level is really, really high, like super-scary guy to play in the round of 16. But then he can also sometimes not have the best days.

Q. We don't know the results of the match that's going to determine your opponent yet, but it does look like it will be Novak Djokovic, against whom you've played many times. Everybody knows how great he is as a tennis player, but what particular problems has he caused you game-wise over the years? What do you think maybe you might be able to do differently this time?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, the thing is I think it's spanned over so many years. Like, I think the first, almost like seven or eight times I played him, I probably just wasn't a good-enough player to really have that much of a chance unless I have the best day ever and he has a bad day.

I think only the last couple times we've played I think I've been this just better player that can, you know, I'd say compete and have chances.

You know, last time we played in, I think was it Shanghai, I mean, I had looks, I had set points in the second set. Like, I really should have probably won the second, taken it to a third set.

But yeah, I think what makes it tough is he serves well, he serves aggressive on second serves. It's tough to take advantage of his serve for how well he also returns and just is from the baseline.

He backs it up incredibly well with the serve. So it's tough to sometimes get on him the way that he's, I guess, getting on you with the return.

Q. Does the fact that you're the last American, obviously a few early exits, mean anything to you? That you're like the last hope for this tournament, in a way?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, I guess it's like it can be a good thing for me. Hopefully the crowd is really going to get behind me now because I am the last guy.

Yeah, it's surprising. I think it's just been a rough week for the guys. I thought that, I mean, it's tough, Ben with the injury, then I think Foe and Tommy just ran into some guys who were playing -- dangerous players, playing really good tennis, so it happens.

You know, I'm happy to be here and hopefully, like I said, if the crowd can get behind me, we can do this.

Q. For you, when you have a head-to-head like you have against Novak, have you ever -- I see you smiling already -- but have you ever talked to anyone who has had a similar situation? Examples of this in people who've turned it around. I'm thinking of United Cup teammates with her, Coco, who started 0 and 7 against Swiatek and then has won the last three of the four, something like that. Are there ways past it? It's not unusual to have a lopsided head-to-head. Is there a recipe to turn this momentum?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think the way to turn it around is just to become a better player. You know, I think that Coco would probably say the same thing. I think she would probably tell me that she just was better, better at tennis when she started reversing the head-to-head.

For me, in my head, I'm not thinking about all the losses I had to Novak when I was, I don't know, like, five years ago. I was nowhere near the level of player that I am now.

You know, what I'm thinking about, fresh in my mind, is when we played at World Tour Finals, whatever year that was, I think maybe '22, I can't quite remember. But that one and the one in Shanghai last year. In those ones I served for the set in the World Tour Finals, I had set points serving in Shanghai. I know that in the most recent matches we've had, there's been looks. I just haven't been able to make it happen in the important moments of those matches.

You know, that's what makes the best guys the best guys. They're not going to give it to you in those moments. You have to go and take it.

Q. A lot of talk at this Open of milestones and anniversary. Ten years now since a kid from San Diego won the boys' title here. Can you talk about that great run when you won the juniors?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I think it was one of the first times I put so much pressure on myself, because when you're playing the juniors, there is like a timer on it. You can only play for so long. I wanted to win a junior slam so bad. That was the biggest goal for me. At that point in my life, any time I had laid out a goal that I really wanted for myself, I'd always accomplished it.

So I lost the finals of French Open, I lost the semis at Wimbledon. I feel like I put so much pressure on myself that week because I wanted that title so, so bad.

So in the end, that made it even more special that I was able to come through and win the tournament. I still think regardless of what else happens in my career, that will always still be, like, one of the happiest moments, I'd say, for me for sure. It was such a big deal.

Q. Do you still hold that over Tommy?

TAYLOR FRITZ: He got me at French. So there's not much I can hold over him. I kind of say, like, Thanks for letting me have that one because you got the other one (smiling).

Q. You obviously think of yourself as a very different and better tennis player than the first few times you played Novak. How do you think of him as a tennis player relative to, I think you first met in 2019, but as a player and in terms of maybe how he's perceived in the locker room, has that locker room aura worn off a touch in that period?

TAYLOR FRITZ: No, I wouldn't say that the aura of Novak being Novak has worn off at all. No matter what, he's around, you're going to acknowledge the fact that it's Novak and he holds pretty much all the records in tennis. That's never going to change.

But I think that, yeah, what's different is there's been some guys now that are coming up and able to beat him. I still think he's, when he shows up to the slams obviously, he is playing as good of tennis as -- I guess I haven't really played him enough, but, you know, I think the level is still as much there as it was before.

You know, I don't look at it like, I don't know -- I don't look at it like he's more vulnerable than before. I look at it as the same, but I also look it that I've improved a lot as a player.

Q. Following up on that, Taylor, when you go out against Novak, how much are you thinking about him, and how much are you thinking about yourself and dictating?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think I'm just -- I've played him a lot, you know, so the last couple of times, I am just thinking about me. I'm just playing. I think, like I said before, the biggest thing I need to think about that's different from maybe other matches I play is just in those tight moments, you know, I need to play more to win and not to lose, if that statement makes sense.

I think when I'm playing lower-ranked players a lot of times, if I'm not feeling it, not feeling my best, you know, I can trust that if I'm solid and I just don't make mistakes and I compete hard, a lot of times they'll kind of give it to me or they'll make mistakes.

But against the top guys, and I learned this too, something I touched on after the Wimbledon loss to Carlos, is in those moments, because you're playing someone who they're where they're at for a reason, they're not just going to hand it over to you, they're not just going to give you a random mistake on a big point. You have to maybe pull the trigger and go out and take it from them.

Outside of that small thing, it's very much like playing any other match and playing within myself, because I believe I'm, you know, at the level now with my game where I can do that and win.