MUBADALA DC OPEN

July 31, 2026

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/A. Michelsen

6-1, 3-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, congrats. Really gritty win today. How does it feel to be in the semifinal here?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, it feels good. I think that was a big one. Obviously Michel has got me the two previous times we played, so I really wanted to win that and played, like, as good as I could possibly play the first set.

I wish I could have kept that level up, but understandably, it would have been hard to. He also raised his level, and I'm just happy to kind of get it done in the end.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Can you just talk through that third set, just starting from the medical timeout you took at 2-All, and what was going on there, and then how impaired were you by that the rest of the way?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, the thing is, I had the exact same thing happen to me in Dallas on my right knee, but like exact same injury, like same spot, super sharp pain. It's more of like a tweak, like I just tweaked it.

Because of how it was in Dallas, I felt really confident that I just needed to see the physio. I needed to work on it a little bit and then play, like, a game or two, and it would start to just get better, because that's what happened at Dallas. It kind of just -- I tweak it. It's super sharp, feels really weird, and then it kind of just goes away.

I think I got off the changeover. I'd say after, like, four more games, I probably -- it was a nonfactor after that.

Q. Nothing to be concerned about going forward?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I don't think so. I think it's totally fine.

Q. You guys have two of the best backhands on tour from a technique standpoint and also from a usage standpoint. What are some commonalities in your backhands and also maybe some differences?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think both of us really like just kind of being solid with the hitting like the flat one through the court. I think he does a really good job of spinning it probably a bit more than I do. Like, he can whip it off the court. A lot of times when I go off the court, I want to flatten it off the court. He can whip it with spin.

Yeah, I mean, it is in a lot of ways similar, our backhands.

Q. After you get the winner on match point to seal it, you have that emphatic fist bump. Just what's going through your head in that immediate moment right after you have won the match?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Just happy to get through. I think any time there's a lot of just tension in the match and both of us are obviously very nervy in the breaker, you know, it's not the best breaker from either one of us.

But just that feeling of, like, relief after you win, it's like, you know -- like I said, it's nervy, and there's tension. That feeling always feels a lot better to celebrate after a win, you know?

Q. You mentioned how you had experienced a similar knee injury in Dallas. Was there kind of a comfort in a sense that you were used to the pain before, and you weren't as concerned as if it were maybe a different injury?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, yeah. I felt pretty confident after I did it that it was exactly the same thing and it would go away. I'm actually surprised it almost didn't go away, like, sooner, because in Dallas it was pretty quickly as soon as I got the physio to work on it, better.

I think I have to go and watch the video of what I did. I think I might have just jammed it in a weird way. Yeah, it was just a weird tweak.

I hope that me going to physio didn't, like, put him off in any way. I definitely would have gotten my serve broken if I didn't call the physio, like, right at that moment, because it was really painful and sharp. I was feeling it in every movement.

Then after we kind of just, like, work on it, loosen it up a bit and I play on it a bit, it's good. So I kind of expected that, just off of Dallas.

Q. You've advanced in the unofficial Southern California portion of the draw. It was Alex today. It's Brandon tomorrow. Just your early thoughts on playing a guy you've known for such a long time and you've had matches against?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, it's a lot of familiarity obviously. He's obviously playing really well. It was two really good wins from him. It's going to be a tough match. It's going to come down to a lot of serving, as well.

Q. You are only going to a semi, but just how big a title would this be for you if you could get a win like this?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, it would be great. I don't know. I mean, I've been in two 500 finals this year already, which I don't think I've -- I could be forgetting some. I don't think I've had a year where I've made two 500 finals.

Unfortunately, tennis is so rewarding of, you know, going all the way. It's very boom or bust with the point system. You'd much rather be the guy that loses first round three weeks in a row and then wins a title than the person who is kind of having consistent deep runs.

Going all the way for sure would be a huge boost.

Q. Would you like to see the ranking system rethought or reimagined at all? I mean, you are right, you could win one first round -- one title and five first rounds better than maybe five quarters.

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think it's fair. I think it's fair. I think in the end you should be rewarded for when you win big, and I think they did make a good change a couple of years ago where they added slightly more points to the other rounds in the tournaments.

Pretty sure every round except for the title of these tournaments gives you a little bit more points than it used to. So I do think that was a good change.