ROLAND GARROS

May 24, 2026

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

N. BASAVAREDDY/T. Fritz

7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Taylor, obviously you didn't have a ton of match prep coming into this. What was your overall feeling out there today, what you couldn't get clicking the way you wanted to?

TAYLOR FRITZ: You know, I really don't think my level was that bad, to be honest. I think I -- I mean, all things considered, I thought actually I played all right.

You know, certain things here and there that I could do a bit better. I wasn't hitting some of the spots on my serve as good as I could have. You know, I could have returned a lot better as well, but a bit frustrating, because a lot of times I'm not returning well, it's more like I'm having trouble just getting my racquet, getting in a good place to, like, make contact.

I felt like today I actually had a lot of returns on my racquet, and I just didn't really hit it well enough and didn't take advantage of some opportunities. I mean, when I look back at it, the first three sets I faced one break point, and I felt like I had some chances to break him.

So, you know, I did a lot of what I'd say my job normally is. I just failed to convert some chances. You know, I really should have -- I was up a break in the second, I really should have served out the second.

In the end I just wasn't able to turn it around, and I think he played amazing.

Q. Taylor, a lot of kind of discussion between you and Mike and the team throughout the match trying to figure out where to kind of set the line in terms of how aggressive you should play it, so I'm kind of curious how you were seeing that, and whether or not ultimately you were pleased with kind of where you set that line?

TAYLOR FRITZ: The main thing I felt like we were kind of going back and forth about was where I wanted to stand on the first serve return on the ad side. Because when I stood really far back, he was kicking me back out wide and serve and volleying me. But I felt like when I stood up, then it got very tough to -- you know, I had a lot less time before the serve got to me.

So I felt like I was making more mistakes, and I felt like if I didn't hit a good return, then my core positioning had to be too far up. It would be too easy for him to kind of hurt me on the first ball.

Mike wanted me to step up, and I felt like -- I felt like when I stepped up, it was good for him. He would miss more first serves because he would go for more instead of just kind of kicking in a first serve, but I also felt like when he made the first serve, I didn't have as good of a play on it as when I was standing back.

I ultimately felt like I could stand back. I just had to do a better job of returning. And that's, you know, sometimes the conversation I have with Mike is, you know, sometimes we have to identify if something is not working. If it's the strategy that's not working or if it's just me that's not, you know, executing the strategy well enough.

I thought that that's what this particular issue was. I felt like I had my racquet on a lot of these returns, and it was more, you know, I wasn't winning points, but I didn't really want to change it, because I felt like I could -- I could do better.

Q. Taylor, just wondering if when looking at the course of your season and where you entered the clay court season, your knee and everything like that, if there's a silver lining here in terms of that you now you kind of just get to have lots of time off to prepare for the grass, if you guys are thinking about it that way at all? Then wonder if you did have to think about the knee at all today or how that's feeling?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, I feel it here and there a little bit, but all things considered, I think it's -- I mean, it feels pretty good right now. Obviously I don't know if it's, you know, a false sense of security I'm having because I'm obviously taking anti-inflammatories to make sure I feel good, so I don't actually know if that's the reason it feels so good or it's actually -- I mean, it is obviously better. It definitely got better, but you know, I don't know how it would actually feel right now.

It is nice. I'm going to get more time now to keep going back to the rehab and keep getting it better, hopefully. I think grass is going to be a real test for it. There are so many choppy, choppy steps. It's really tough on the patella, and that's kind of where I feel like last year the knee started kind of getting worse for me.

So I think grass is going to be a big test. You know, it is what it is. I feel like I was kind of in a similar situation last year. I wasn't injured the whole clay court season. I was only injured for -- I missed a couple of weeks and then came back and, you know, didn't win a lot of matches. I think I lost first round French Open and went into grass court season I think somewhere, like, 20-something in the race.

Kind of in a similar situation this year, so hoping I can turn it around like I did last year. That's the good thing is I'm in a very similar spot to what I did -- where I was at last year, and I made it work last year, so...

Q. I was wondering, you probably knew coming into this tournament that this scenario was a possibility more than on other occasions. I was wondering, did you have a B-plan on what you were going to do next in case this was the outcome of the match? Do you know what the next two weeks kind of have for you?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, no. I obviously knew that, yeah, I haven't played a lot of matches. I'm a bit rusty. I still, like I said, I think I played -- I really think I played all right today. I think I played better today than I did in my first round loss last year here.

You know, I do think I'm finding a bit of rhythm. You know, I never really thought about what the plan was if I didn't do well. It was kind of just, like, easy if you're an American. If you win three rounds of the French Open, you're probably going to stay over in Europe. If you don't win three rounds, then you go home.

So, like I said, I already have a blueprint from last year. I lost first round. Whatever I did last year worked really well for me going into the grass court season. I think I'll probably just stick to that.

Q. I'm sure you've been aware of or hit with Nishesh before. This is his biggest win.

TAYLOR FRITZ: I actually haven't.

Q. Well, you certainly know who he is.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yes.

Q. He's been in the pipeline for a while. What impressed you about his game today, because this was a big day for him?

TAYLOR FRITZ: He just played incredibly well. I mean, the biggest thing was just the dropshots were crazy. He was hitting dropshots. Typically when someone is dropshotting me too much, I kind of just tell myself, okay, I need to hit the ball deeper. He was hitting insane dropshots, like, off balls that were landing on the baseline.

He killed me with that, and there's not really much I can do about it, like I said. I feel like he's just hitting insane dropshots off of crazy shots to hit dropshots off of.

So, yeah, it is what it is. He really cooked me with the dropshots today. I was very impressed with his feel.