NITTO ATP FINALS

November 11, 2025

Taylor Fritz

Inalpi Arena,Torino

Press Conference

C. ALCARAZ/T. Fritz

6-7, 7-5, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, that was a tough match, close battle. Can you please talk us through the match.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, I did a lot of things well in the match, especially the first two sets. I think I executed on a lot of the harder things that I wanted to do and kind of almost let it get away from me on maybe some of the things that should be a bit easier to do.

I guess I was being very aggressive returning, hitting balls from the ground. I'm obviously doing that to get balls that are a bit shorter. Sometimes I can pull it on a forehand and look to get a ball that I can really attack with my forehand.

I think a couple big points I did that, hit good returns, hit deep balls, had the ball that I wanted. Just didn't do enough with it sometimes. He plays incredible defense, anticipates well, passes well. I have to make sure that those put-aways are taken care of.

I think some big points I just wasn't as clinical with the short put-away balls as I would have liked to have been. Like I said, I think that's the harder thing to do, to get to that point in general, because the last couple times I played him, especially in Saudi, I don't even get a look at those type of balls. He is just kind of always on offense. I don't even get a chance to get the balls to attack.

But yeah, today I did. I just wasn't, like, clinical enough in finishing some points on some really big points.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Do you have any specific regrets? And what's missing?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot of things. I mean, I really believe if I hit my forehand just a little bit better on some shots, I'm up a break in the second and I'm putting myself in a position to serve out the match.

I mean, the ones that come to my mind, there was one game 15-30, I missed a forehand that I should have at least put away or hit a good enough shot to win the point on. I did the same thing on a 30-All, on one of the break points. I let the overhead bounce. I probably should have sent it out of the air and accepted it if I missed it. I think that was a good opportunity to win the point. There's a lot of opportunities.

I'd say the thing that's frustrating is most of the opportunities that come to my mind were all on me actually having the ball that I want to really attack on, just not hitting it well enough.

Q. You said if you could hold your serve, it's going to be a match. That was the case pretty much during all the match. How difficult is it to stay focused on your serve when you're playing Carlos? Do you think it's the match where you were the closest to him maybe?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, recently I did win one time, you know (smiling)?

But I mean, out of the last two matches, yeah, I felt like when I played him in Saudi, like I said, I didn't even really have a chance. I wasn't ever getting looks in that match to be aggressive, to pull the trigger. He was just always in control. A bit like that in Tokyo, as well.

The first two sets of this match I felt like I was getting a lot of opportunities. That was because I was returning really well, returning really aggressive.

I don't think it's tough to stay focused on the serve. I don't think the serve is really an issue in the match.

I think once we get to the third set, I'm struggling pretty hard with my knee tendinitis. I have to play back-to-back days, then I'm playing such an explosive match. I feel like it gets a little bit tough to bend my knee on my serve once we get that late into the match. That is what it is. I can't really do much about it.

Yeah, the first two sets I think I did an incredible job serving and returning. I gave myself all the chances I could possibly ask for the first two sets.

Q. On that point of those first two sets being so close, ending up going into a third set, not that you didn't stop trying your best, but was there an element of total frustration and a bit of a letdown or feeling a bit flat?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, there's definitely frustration 'cause, like I said, I felt like I had my opportunities. I mean, to be completely honest, it's just the flatness is just my knee. My knee's completely cooked. There's nothing I can really do.

I've been dealing with it all year. I've had tendinitis all year long. It didn't start to become a problem in my actual tennis matches until around grass court season, after grass court season. Up until then I would only ever feel the pain after cooling down, after being done. It was never an issue. That's when I started feeling it during matches.

Kind of since that part of the year I've really struggled to kind of play back-to-back days without it flaring up. I feel like if I play one really hard day where I'm moving intensely and playing hard, then I need a day for it to kind of calm down. Tokyo was the only time this whole year, for whatever reason, I was able to play back-to-back days without pain.

Yeah, I started feeling it towards the end of the first set, but it didn't really affect me until the third set. It just got to the point where I was really struggling to bend my back leg on my serve, step into backhands, load the leg, my right leg, for like an open-stance forehand.

Yeah, I mean, the feeling of flatness, I'm really struggling with it.

Q. You probably said something that is already an answer to my questions because I am not sure I understood everything you said. There were at least three or four forehands that you were two meters, three meters far from the net court. I don't know why you hit those balls, three times out of four, to his forehand, trying to counter-foot him probably. I'm asking you, do you think it's a matter of being anxious, not nervous, but anxious to finish it? Why this happens? To be honest, from my point of view, I am not a great player like you are, they seem to be very easy shots for you, for a player like you. I don't know if you will ever see it on TV again.

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, I think he's great, he's very quick. He's great at anticipating. I don't think the fact that it's going to his forehand is the issue. I hit balls, when I had those easy shots, in both directions.

One aspect of it is he's anticipating well and kind of just maybe he can see by how I'm setting up where I'm going to hit it. I think there's also a luck aspect to it, as well. He's just picking a side. He knows that it's an easy shot, he's going to pick a side. He's picking the right side a lot.

I don't know if there's probably ever been a match where someone's picked the right side on short balls against me more. That's obviously why I say it can't all be luck. He's a great mover and he anticipates really well. I'm sure he anticipated a lot of the shots.

Yeah, I mean, to be honest, on a lot of those short balls, I tried to mix it up. Sometimes I hit what I thought was the more obvious shot. Sometimes I hit what I thought was the less obvious shot for him. He seemed to be there every time.

Again, one of the very frustrating parts of the match is not being clinical, finishing the easy shots sometimes.

Q. The problem you mentioned that created a pain when you bend your knee when you play back-to-back matches, how does it happen? Do you feel it straightaway or is it progressive? Do you know what it is and how you can deal with it in the long-term?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, the thing is in order to deal with this, you need a certain amount of weeks to strengthen it where you're not pounding on it playing tennis. Unfortunately that time period you need, that does not exist in the tennis season.

Obviously, as you can see, yesterday played a great match. Today I played two sets at an incredible level. Why would you ever stop for four to six weeks when I can do this on the court? I'm just going to play through.

As I said before, as long as I have, for the most part, I go hard and I have a day to take it easy, then I'm good again. It's unfortunate that circumstances are I have to play two days back to back.

Yeah, I start to feel it when I'm kind of bending, loading, kind of stomping. I think a big part of why it got going today is, one, the match yesterday, and two, I was returning very explosive in this match. It's one of the best matches I've returned for two sets. The pushing off, the landing when I'm returning, that puts a lot of force through it. It's just tendinitis. It's just gotten worse.

Like I said, I felt it kind of early on. It wasn't bad enough to affect me until I think the third set. You could probably, I don't know, line up video and compare side to side and see that in the third set my back leg is just not bending as much, not loading as much as it was earlier in the match.

That being said, Carlos served exceptionally better in the third set. He got the momentum rolling. He played great in the third set.

My opportunity to win that match was in the second set, and I didn't take it. I had the chances. I had all I could ask for, like I said.