NITTO ATP FINALS

November 10, 2025

Taylor Fritz

Inalpi Arena,Torino

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/L. Musetti

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, must not be easy playing an Italian in Turin, but it was a great win. Can you walk us through the match today.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, just normal first match World Tour Finals. A very important one to win I'd say if I want to make it out of the group.

A little nervy in the beginning. Also he plays quite different with, like, the slices and everything. So it took me some time to get used to it.

Yeah, I mean, I was able to avoid getting broken early in the match when he had some chances. Then I feel like I kind of got into the match more. End of the first set, the whole second set, I thought I played really well.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Taylor, I was impressed by your performance on the backhand. Is this something that you're working on?

TAYLOR FRITZ: No (smiling). I think it's always been like that. I don't know. I think my backhand's always been one of my best shots.

I think this week especially I felt, and I think part of it is just the court, the conditions, it's fast, so I have a lot of pace to work with on my backhand. I don't need to worry about doing so much of the generating. I can kind of use the speed.

Yeah, in general it's felt good. Changing a (indiscernible) as well has felt good. I think it's always been one of my best shots.

Q. You had 12 break points, and you converted one in the first set and one in the second. The analysis of the match from your point of view is more depending on your good serve or in his return that sometimes is a little short or so? The percentage says that you made 63% winning points when you put the first serve in, 84%, while Musetti on the second serve only 40%. I don't know if it depends more on the quality of your serve or in some problems that he has on returning. What is your analysis?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think it's more probably the quality of the serve. For me, I'm serving for, like, lines. I'm never serving to kind of put it in. I'd rather miss my serve than make it and it not be very good. I think I did a good job mixing up the serve. Yeah, I feel like I'm hitting the spots pretty good on the serve.

To be honest, I think one of the things he's always done really well against me is neutralize my first serve. I think he's very good at chipping the return deep and putting it in positions where it's tough for me to attack.

I wouldn't say it's his return because I think that's been one of the things that's made it tough for me to play him in the past, is how well he can typically return my first serve if the spot is not very good.

Q. What is strange, Musetti's average serve was 166, while yours is 145.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Second serve, though.

Q. Yes. Less strong than Musetti. Apparently you place better the serve.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Okay, let me explain (smiling).

The speed only really matters to where we're standing to return. He is standing further back to return, so there's no reason for me to hit a bigger second serve because he's five feet behind the baseline. I'm not going to rush him with a second. Why would you take the extra risk? I don't think when he's that far back he's going to do anything with it. I feel fine to hit a much softer second.

If we separate any of the points where he's actually returning much closer, I'm hitting a much bigger second serve. Same thing the other way around: I'm returning his serve close, so he's trying to serve very aggressive to take my time away. If I were to go back, he would probably kick his second serve and hit it a lot softer, so...

Q. Maybe my question is a continuation of this. In your answer to ATP Media and earlier in this press conference you mentioned the condition as part of the outcome of this match. The general idea is that the courts are slowed down on the tour all year long.

TAYLOR FRITZ: They have.

Q. Because you guys serve huge serves, play very fast. Courts are slower than it was in the past. Since we are in Turin for two days, we are hearing that the conditions play a part in the outcomes of the matches. Can you tell us what part the speed, the condition of the court, has in the way you work your plan for a match? For instance you lost against Musetti on clay and grass earlier this season.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yes.

Q. The previous season. The fact that it's indoor, a fast court, what part did it have in your preparation of the match? Is it a big part?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Well, I mean, it's tough to fully prepare because even when you play practice, sometimes in practice it's just not the same as a match.

So I think I have a feel for how fast the court is, but I won't actually know until I get out there and play if certain shots are going to be working because the court is fast enough or they're not going to be working. It's not set in stone.

I guess an example I could give is compare when we played at Wimbledon to here. At Wimbledon, it's grass. It moves. But I'd say the thing about Wimbledon grass, if you spin the ball, it's not fast. The spin checks a lot on the grass court.

I think one of the problems I was having there is when he's chipping - I think I'd have this problem in slow conditions as well - and I run around and I want to attack with my forehand, because he's chipping it low, not giving me a lot of pace to work with, I have to spin that ball.

I think at Wimbledon I was having a very hard time hurting him off of that ball. If you don't hurt him off that ball, I've kind of ruined my court positioning by running around up there to hit a forehand. If my shot is not good, he has the whole court, cross-court, to hit a forehand if I try to go inside in.

I think that was one of the big things in this match. The court's fast. When he sliced, I was able to still be aggressive off of his slice and not really get punished if I didn't hit it great. I felt like I was able to still hurt him on a lot of balls, where in past matches we played he can neutralize, I have a hard time getting it past him.

So I think, yeah, the court plays fast. I was happy when I got on the court. I realized that was going to be the case in this match, that I could be aggressive and hit good enough shots to where he's not going to just get there and go open court and I lose the points. I don't have to pick and choose which ones to be aggressive on. I can pretty much be aggressive when I like it.

Q. When you hear all these stats and percentages - certainly it's given me a headache - does it spin around in your head and you need something from MIT to decipher it all or does it come easily to you? Second is your thoughts on playing Alcaraz.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, the stats, to be honest, I feel like I know most of the stats without looking or hearing them. I mean, I feel like I'm pretty confident when I get off the court, I can probably say close to a three percentage of what I served on my first serve, what they served on their first serve, and what the win percentages probably were. I don't look at the stats, but I'm keeping track of that stuff mentally during the match.

I think, yeah, when it comes to playing Carlos, it's tough. I think the last couple times we've played, the last two times especially, he's played very well. He has played very aggressive against me.

I think at Laver Cup I was able to beat him to the punch a lot. I played extremely aggressive there and I was able to take control of a lot of points.

I think one of the adjustments he made from that match was to really stress not letting me do that. He really tries to take the racquet out of my hand. He's been pretty successful doing that the last couple matches in Tokyo and in Saudi.

I'm going to have to serve really well. If I do that, no matter how the rest of the match is going, I can keep myself in the match.

I returned really well today. I hope I can return aggressively, return well tomorrow, play aggressive and try to beat him to the punch sometimes.

Q. Just before Lorenzo told us his legs were very heavy. Is that something you noticed throughout the game? If so, at what point in the match did you start to realize that?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I didn't necessarily notice that. I think what I felt like in the match was I felt like I could rush him quite effectively. A lot of that I feel like is the fact that this is a fast court, he hasn't had really time to practice on it, get used to it. I know this morning he warmed up on the practice court which is much slower than the match court, the center court. I felt like that played a part in it, just that he hasn't been here to practice and get used to the speed.

I think going from slower to faster is much more difficult than maybe coming from a faster court to a slower court. It's not easy. I think that definitely was part of it.

I felt like when I got the ball on him fast, the timing was maybe not as there as it would be if he had been here practicing.