THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 6, 2026

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/A. Bublik

7-6, 6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, another nice win. Through to the quarterfinals. You must be really happy.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I'm super happy. It's a really tough match against him. Just to get through it in three straight, especially after going down a break to start the first set, I'm super happy with how I played.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. He's beaten you four out of five times on hard. You've beaten him three times on grass and once on clay. How do you tactically adapt your game to someone as tricky at Sascha on grass?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think a lot of the matchups we played in the past - it was a while ago, so I think both of us are completely different players. I'd say only within the last two years, the matchups we had, like, I really remember well.

I'd say the biggest difference just on grass is the way I return. I return a lot differently on grass. For me, in Stuttgart and here, I felt like I had just pretty good reads on some of the serves. I was getting good hits, good hits on his first serve, starting points in really good spots.

I mean, it's always just going to come down in the end to big points here and there. I remember we played in Paris, he beat me. It was just a super-close first-set tiebreaker. Any time you have two big servers, the margins are very small.

That's what I did best today, was when I got my opportunities, I took them. When he had some chances on my serve, I did really well to get out of it.

Q. I know you've had some frustration the last year or so with the injuries and not being able to get it going. When did you last feel this good on a tennis court?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Probably. You're talking more about just like my body, right?

Q. Both physically and in terms of your game. Obviously you're into the quarters.

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, my game, I felt good about my game at World Tour Finals last year, but my body wasn't there, I'd say.

The last time I felt good about my body would have been, like, Tokyo probably, like after US Open, Laver Cup, Tokyo, is the last time I'd say I remember kind of playing and not thinking about knee pain or whatever when I was playing.

Yeah, it's great to be back at that again.

Q. Will you be watching any of the Zverev-Lehecka match coming up? You're quite technical. Will you sit down with your team and put together a detailed plan? How much do you enjoy that?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I wouldn't call it, like, detailed. I like to just watch and just pick up on certain things. I'm not breaking down all the statistics and stuff like that. I like to go off of what I see and feel. When I'm watching people play, even if someone misses a shot, I can say I feel they hit that with a lot of confidence, and so on.

I'll watch just because it will be on when I'm doing treatment. I typically don't.

I like to watch through a different lens, though, once I know who I'm playing, because then I can be more specific about what I'm paying attention to.

It's different when I'm watching a match of two players. I can't really, like, focus that hard on one of them. I'm more just kind of watching for the enjoyment of it.

Q. Will you be focusing on patterns of play? What are you actually personally looking out for?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, yeah, certain patterns, certain just shots. I mean, it's hard to explain. I just, like, watch it. When I watch it and I actually focus really hard on what I'm watching, I don't know, I absorb it.

Q. Can you explain what the difference is for your return on grass? And also, what is the treatment like to maintain the knee's health?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, the way I return, I just stand extremely close. I use just my first step and my reach to just cover as much of the court as I can.

I hit the backhand, chip the forehand. I change it in certain matchups. There's times that I'll hit over and I'll back up. I did some of that in Halle. I did some of it here last year.

I love my chip forehand. I think it works on grass because the serve is always going to shoot through more. On other surfaces, the serve is going to come up a bit more. You're going to have less pace to work with on the return.

When I do hit a chip, as well, it's going to just sit there a bit more on the other side of the court, so they're going to be able to do a bit more with it. I'm going to get punished for being so far up in the court, returning on the baseline, because I'm not going to be able to defend when I'm that close to the baseline. They get to attack off of a chip that kind of sits there.

On grass, the serve comes through more, gives me more pace to work with. My chip stays low. It comes through the court. I feel like it just gets on the person very fast. It makes it tough for them to attack me on the first ball.

Q. Centre Court scheduling here. Madison Keys played for the first time this year on Centre Court. Jessica Pegula plays for the first time on it tomorrow. You've been on there a handful of times. What kind of challenge does it pose for you?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think I said the other day I actually get Court 1 and Centre mixed up quite a bit.

Q. You've been on Centre a few times. When you played Rafa in your semi.

TAYLOR FRITZ: That makes sense.

I get lost sometimes. Earlier in my career, I don't know sometimes if the matches I played were Court 1 or Centre Court. I'm not sure.

Q. Does it make a difference for you if you don't get on Centre till the semis, and the guy you play has played on Centre the whole time? Maybe it's not an issue for you if you can't tell the difference.

TAYLOR FRITZ: I would say it's always going to be a slight advantage to just be doing the same thing over again. Maybe that's just me. I'm superstitious like that. I like to do the same thing over and over again.

I do think, yeah, if you're playing on the same court every day, you do get a good feel for it. It feels nice. I was thinking about that going into this match. I played my last two matches on Court 2. Bublik just played right around the same time on the same court against Frances. I thought that's maybe slight, helps a little bit. I couldn't tell you how much it helps.

I feel like little margins can make a difference sometimes.

Q. It wouldn't make a difference to you if you had to adjust to Centre?

TAYLOR FRITZ: You're going to have to at some point. It kind of is what it is.

At the end of the day, the highest-ranked players have earned that right to be on Centre and to be playing there the whole tournament. It is what it is.

Q. I wanted your thoughts about Balogun's red card and Trump asking FIFA to change it.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, I think obviously it's not something that happens a lot where they overturn a red card. I think everyone can agree that it shouldn't have been a red card. He shouldn't be out.

It's great to have him back. I posted on my story the meme - it was pretty funny - of the ref giving him a red card, and he was holding up a UNO reverse card back to the ref. I thought that was pretty funny. Happy. Happy that he's going to be playing.

Q. Can you compare your form and your ball striking this year to last year? And secondly, what do you know about Arthur Fery?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I'll start with that.

I know a good bit about Arthur. I went to London before the 2024 World Tour Finals, and I did a training week there prior to Turin. I practiced with him most of the week. He was there.

I was playing well. I made finals of Turin the next week. I felt pretty good about my game. He was beating me, like, every day. I was like, Yeah, this guy's really good. This guy can play.

He had a good forehand for his size. Unbelievable serve. Like I said, we were playing sets, baseline games. He was cooking me pretty consistently for the week.

I knew that I was playing good tennis, so it's not surprising to me that he's having results and also taking advantage of a draw that's, like, opened up a bit. It doesn't surprise me at all that he's winning. I've known since then that he can play.

Q. Did you run across him in California at all when he was at Stanford?

TAYLOR FRITZ: No, not at all. Literally just at the end of that 2024 season.

Q. Your form this year versus last year.

TAYLOR FRITZ: I feel good. I think it's slightly different just because I've played - the last two matches I've played have been really like serve-dominated by both players. There hasn't been a lot of, like, baseline play.

I feel like last year, I mean, the first two rounds were like that. I feel like there was more playing from the back of the court. Last year when I played Fokina, I think that was round of 32 or 16, I can't remember.

Yeah, there's been less rhythm in my matches, so it's tough to tell. But I'm feeling just as good.