MUBADALA DC OPEN

August 3, 2026

Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

T. FRITZ/R. Jodar

7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Taylor, congratulations on winning the title here in D.C. Can you describe what was going through your mind that last game? It was kind of tough, he was fighting, and how did you end up winning that match?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, it's always going to be, like, a bit nerve-racking and a bit of pressure when you're serving for a title. I almost felt like him taking the timeout helped me a little bit just to fully calm down and be very, like, composed when I stepped up to start serving for the match.

Obviously started the game really well. Good serve first point. Played a really great point at 30-15. Then got a little excited at 40-15. I thought I was just going to blast a backhand winner and win, and then it starts getting a little tight.

It's not as easy for me to just pop an ace or get a free point with my serve after playing, you know, like a point like at 30-15 where the heart rate gets up a little bit. It's not as easy.

So I just told myself just to keep competing and keep being positive and just try to fight my way through it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Congrats on the title. After the match point and you collapsed to the ground, what are your immediate emotions in that moment?

TAYLOR FRITZ: It was more like I was tired. It was just relief, like thank God I got it done, thank God the match is over (smiling).

Yeah, it wasn't so much as like a celebration. Just thank God I'm done. I can just lay down for a second (smiling).

Q. A really tight match today, obviously. Tiebreak and then 6-4. What was the biggest key to getting it done and getting that hold down the stretch?

TAYLOR FRITZ: I think the biggest thing was -- he was hitting the ball really big in the beginning. It was also very windy in the beginning. It stayed windy the whole match. It was always easier to serve on the side that I served the match out on.

You had some wind helping. It was just easier to finish points, get some extra power. It was very windy in the beginning. I felt like it was very hard to control the ball.

So that, with the fact that I felt like he was hitting a pretty big ball, there was a lot of errors and mistakes early on, but I did a great job of just serving well the whole first set. Even though I maybe wasn't playing amazing, I still was holding and being in the match.

I felt like I reeled it together really nicely in the tiebreaker. It was one of the better tiebreakers I have played in a while. I think I made all my first serves and put returns in the court. Just a very, very good breaker.

Then I followed up, I played two very good return games to start the second set. Then that gave me, I guess, that gave me the lead that I needed that I could hold onto for the match.

Q. This is your biggest title in about four years. Does it feel that way for you?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Not really.

Q. You have had a pretty good four years.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, it's a long time, but I don't really, I guess, look at it like -- I don't know. I don't look at it like that, because I have been in finals, I have been in, you know, I have been in several finals. I have had big wins.

I don't feel like it's a return to where I was before or something. I had match points to win Dallas, and I played them well.

The margins are so small. I don't really think of in that way, but yeah, it's great to, you know, cross the finish line finally.

Q. You said that break at the end, his medical timeout, I don't know if he was trying to throw off rhythm or something, but it was a long break. What was going through your mind in that time? Also, as the championship points started ticking up, we had Davidovich last year in the final five match points, I don't know if you were thinking of that at all.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, the medical timeout is whatever, like I don't know. I think they said it was for his wrist so he maybe, it was when he fell, I'm assuming. I'm assuming it's for when he fell, which would have been 30-15 on my serve, so I was wondering if he did it then, why he didn't take it before he served, why he took it I guess when I was about to serve. But in the end, it's easy to complain about the coincidental timing of that.

But maybe he is injured. Maybe he felt it in the next game. At the end of the day, if I let that affect me and then make up an excuse for getting myself broken and then get broken, no one in the end is going to, like, care if -- you know, there's not going to be an asterisk next to the win.

It's like at the end of the day, one person wins, one person loses. I just told myself it is what it is. It doesn't matter. Maybe it's a coincidence; maybe he's injured.

Just stay composed and serve it out. Like I said, honestly, having that extra time to fully just relax and compose myself helped me in the end.

Q. The week as a whole, going back to your quarterfinal on Friday, a match point that Michelsen had, you get past that, three sets on Saturday, rain delay yesterday, Monday final. Eventful few days, in other words. Wondering what stands out to you when you kind of take a step back and look at the tournament as a whole for you?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, I think it happens quite a bit when someone saves like a match point, gets by some close matches, and they go on to go all the way sometimes.

Yeah, I think back to that match point Michelsen had. He definitely could have just cranked a forehand off my weak serve I served, and that could have been the match. I'll have to thank him for missing that ball (smiling).

Q. Goes to what you were saying about the margins being so thin.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, it really is. One or two points can decide matches, and those matches can decide the outcome of the tournament.

I'm obviously happy to be here, because there has been times where the margins don't work out for me, but, you know, I'm happy this week that I was able to get it done.

Q. You talked earlier in the week about the ranking point system rewarding titles, so does this title feel like a meaningful boost for what's been a difficult year for you in stretches?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, for sure. In a way, too, it gives me a lot relief. Makes me feel a lot better about the fact that I lost two 500 finals this year. That's huge for just my, I guess, mental, just to -- it lets me accept what's happened earlier this year a little bit more.

Yeah, it gives me a huge boost to putting me in a huge spot for World Tour Finals and giving me that belief that I can be injured, I can be taking the clay court season off, and as long as I'm playing and I'm healthy, then I'm -- I mean, I'm top 8 in the race right now, so it gives me a lot of belief in myself and my own abilities.

Q. Do you have a photo shoot after this? We don't see that many diamonds in the press room here.

TAYLOR FRITZ: I was told I was going to do a photo shoot. I don't know if I'm going to, because I think I've got to catch a flight. I figured I would rather change into this than my tennis clothes since I'm probably just going to go straight to the airport.

Q. We appreciate it. You look nice for us.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Thank you (smiling).