AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 22, 2026

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/V. Kopriva

6-1, 6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, just take us through the match. How are you feeling at the end of it?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I feel good. I mean, I came out playing really, really well. Definitely the kind of like start to a match that I'm looking for. Just felt very calm, in control. I felt like I was, you know, playing aggressive at the right times. When I didn't have the chance, I was being really solid, not giving away any free points. Just a really good level.

I think he raised his level a lot midway through the second, and especially in the third. I thought he played incredible in the third. I kind of just had to stay with it and apply the scoreboard pressure.

You know, it's super frustrating for me not to serve out the match, but at least with how upset I was I didn't serve it out, I was able to rebound and get it done in a tiebreaker and play a good tiebreaker.

Q. I wanted to ask about your next opponent is Stan Wawrinka who is obviously playing his farewell year here. He has some interesting stats where he has a much stronger record in best of five and best of three. He's won more slams than Masters events, which is very rare. He's got an higher winning percent. Curious for you as somebody who has been in both formats, what are the talents you see in him, or I guess generally in players that makes someone much better at best of five and the best of three?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, the obvious thing is fitness but then the other thing is just, I'd say, being a really good competitor, you know.

People that compete really well tend to win out over, you know, the longer matches. It speaks to how great of a competitor he is.

And also I'd say the ability to make changes in your game. In a three-out-of-five-set match you have a lot more time to kind of figure things out and adjust than you would in a two out of three.

Q. A lot of guys and female players are showing off new service motions at the start of the year. From my perspective it seems like a lot of players are willing to make quite big changes to their service motions, not necessarily forehands or backhands. You haven't really changed your service motion much?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Should I?

Q. Pardon?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Should I?

Q. If you want to. But do you think there is a reason why players tend to change their service motions more than their ground stroke?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, of course. Because when it comes to the ground strokes there's so many different shots you're going to be hitting.

You know, if I want to change my forehand it's like I've got to change it and now learn to hit so many different variations of balls in a different way. When it comes to serve, you control it. You know, it's just coming out of your hand so it's very easy to serve a different way and instantly, like, feel like it's not a big difference to where it was.

I could start doing like a pinpoint, or whatever it's called, where you drag the foot up. I think I would still serve over 50% and still win over 70% first serves. It wouldn't make my serve drastically worse out of nowhere. It's just because you have that control of you're not playing off of another ball. It's very easy to play around with it and not, I guess, completely mess it up like you would a ground stroke.

Q. What would you say was the last big technical change to your game? Was it 12?

TAYLOR FRITZ: To my serve. I know exactly what it was. When I was 16, I made the semis of Junior Wimbledon. That's the first time I started thinking maybe I could be actually be a pro, so one thing I wanted to change was my serve because I platformed from my second serve, which is a kick, and I actually dragged my -- I didn't even, like, go up and serve, I just fully dragged my back foot on my first serve.

It was tough for me to go over the higher parts of the net. So I had a good first serve in terms of going tee on both sides, but I really struggled to go wide on both sides, and I also just thought it looked really stupid to platform for a second serve, for a kick serve and then have something different for a first serve, so I changed it and I literally changed it in one day.

I stopped doing it, started doing platform and never went back. So like I said, it's kind of easy to change your serves sometimes.

Q. Through to round three along with quite a few teammates. It's been an quite impressive for Americans. What's in the water? And who are you going to be celebrating with the most? Tell us a bit about the dynamics within the American team at the moment?

TAYLOR FRITZ: It's tough. We're all focused in on the tournament. It's like we're all on different schedules. I feel like I've barely seen Tommy this week, and Frances. But they are playing on the days that I'm not playing. So, like, the days that we're off, I feel like we come into the site real quick, practice, leave. Yeah, I just haven't been catching them.

But happy to see all the success the guys are having, especially some of the guys that are playing well, pulling off some upsets. I'm happy for Ethan. He doesn't have to worry about the bill that he paid the other night. Maybe that gave him a little extra motivation, too, this week.

Q. How is the knee factoring into your thought process and preparation these days?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, for me the knee, you know, I'm probably getting a bit overconfident with how it feels because I'm on, obviously, antiinflammatories and stuff, so it's obviously masking the pain. I'd say my knee has been feeling really good the last couple of days. But obviously if I get -- it's masking the pain. But I still know it is well-improved from where it was at because before, even on all the antiinflammatories, it was still like just killing me.

So it's a lot better. I'm really happy. Really, really happy with where it's at right now. And it's giving me a lot of hope that I can continue to do my rehab while still playing and it can keep getting better.

So it's been really, really promising I'd say just the last two weeks with how it's been feeling because how it felt the first week, two weeks I was in Australia I was thinking, you know, I'm probably going to have to shut it down for a month or two.

Q. Just going back to your next match against Stan. I wonder how you feel about that in terms of the Stan story and thinking back to the Monfils match that you played here last year. Obviously different types of tennis players, but a similar kind of feel and vibe to what they're doing.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I'm excited for it. I think it will be a fun match. Obviously, looked up to Stan for a long time. I know he's playing well. I practiced with him in Perth at United Cup. His average time on court per match this year has to be something insane because even United Cup he was battling long three-setters every match. Yeah, it's so impressive the level and just the physicality he's still bringing.

Q. Can you imagine playing tennis at 40?

TAYLOR FRITZ: No, not at all. I can barely imagine playing in, like, four years from now.

Q. Asking all the American players this. There's a lot happening back home in the US and kind of has been for a lot over the last year. I'm kind of wondering how you're feeling?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, I'm not sure what we're specifically talking about. But there is a lot going on in the US. I don't know. I feel like whatever I say here is going to get put in a headline and it's going to get taken out of context, so I'd really rather not do something that's going to cause a big distraction for me in the middle of the tournament.