J. SINNER/T. Fritz
6-4, 6-4
THE MODERATOR: Taylor, not the result you wanted, but a very tough opponent. Obviously you still have the chances to go through. If you could walk us through the match today.
TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, I think it was a really high-level match from both sides. I felt like I played really well. I felt like he played well. I think there's a lot of positives I can take out of it.
He didn't give me much. I feel like a lot of the points that I was winning and chances I was creating, they were off of me playing very good tennis.
The unfortunate thing is there was a lot of, especially in the first set, 30-Alls, 15-30s, chances on his serve. I don't count it as a chance when it's 30-All and he aces me. 15-30s and 30-Alls where I had looks at seconds, I was in rallies, I didn't make it happen on a lot of those points.
I didn't play the really high-quality points that maybe I was playing for the other parts of the match. In those situations, he played a lot of those big-moment points better.
A bit frustrating in the second set. One of those 30-Alls I really did play a good point. He did an amazing pass. That's the real difference in that match. That's why he's had such an insane year. That's why he's No. 1.
I felt like we were going back and forth. It was pretty even for a lot of the match. But he played a lot of those 15-30, 30-All points just a bit better.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. How did it feel different than the Open final? What sorts of things were you trying to do differently than in that match?
TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I think even though the result's the same and the score's not even that different, the matches felt very, very different.
US Open, I obviously didn't serve well. From the ground, I still didn't feel too comfortable. I felt like I was getting a little overwhelmed. I had to rely a little bit too much on either hitting a shot that I didn't feel was maybe a repeatable shot to hit or him missing or something like that to stay in. I felt like I was kind of just fighting to stay in it.
Today I felt like from the ground we were pretty even, to be honest. I didn't feel like I was getting dominated in any of the patterns rally-wise, which in the US Open forehand to forehand I was getting killed.
I felt like I could hang forehand to forehand. I was hitting it much more through the court, not lifting it anywhere near as much. Obviously when I was lifting it at the Open, it sets up for him to just crush the ball.
Yeah, I did a really good job I felt like from the ground today.
Also honestly I served pretty well. I think both games I got broken, not my best service games. Also, especially the first set when he broke me, very high-quality game from him honestly. I don't think a lot of other people would have broken me with how I played in that game.
Then, yeah, unfortunate last game. For all of the match, I didn't feel overwhelmed. I felt like I was right there.
Q. I've been trying to get players' thoughts on the balls on tour. I heard from Daniil and Sascha. They felt over the last two years especially the quality of the ball has changed. They feel it kind of dies in the air. Sascha did some research and he thinks it's because the materials the ball companies are using are inferior. What have you noticed in your own play?
TAYLOR FRITZ: I saw that.
I haven't necessarily really noticed the quality. Let's say these are the Dunlop balls. I haven't necessarily thought the quality of these balls have gotten a lot worse, to be honest.
It's really tough. It's really tough for me to remember what it felt like I guess pre 2020. I think I've really dialed into how everything feels more than ever over the last couple of years.
But I think the biggest issue with, like, simply these balls, the balls we play with the most, I would say most players agree this is the most consistent ball that we play with. When it's, like, humid, the balls get massive. But that kind of happens to everything.
I did hear about the factory, like, changes and stuff during COVID. I've kind of noticed it with other companies' balls. The biggest one I've noticed is the Wilson US Open balls. I feel like they can literally be completely different balls from different weeks, when we play Toronto-Cincinnati, Montreal-Cincinnati.
Last year when we played Montreal to Cincinnati, like, you just could not tell me those were the same balls we were playing with both weeks. There's just no chance. In Cincinnati, they were going hairless. In Montreal, they were puffing up like they normally do.
I agree with that. Sometimes there's some inconsistency. I do feel like certain balls have been getting into the tournament rotation a bit more often the last couple years that just play a lot slower. They're a lot softer. They feel more dead.
A good example is like the Wilson balls we used in Laver Cup and Shanghai. They feel great. You feel like you literally can't miss a ball. But they're very soft. It's almost like playing with a Green Dot ball. Hard to hit a winner. Those balls are probably only acceptable to play on a really fast court.
Yeah, for me these Dunlop balls actually play the best. I haven't noticed too much of a quality drop. The only time, like I said, it's a big problem is when it's really humid because the balls get absolutely massive.
Q. I know it's a delicate subject. Do you think there should be a final decision issued in Jannik's drug case before the Australian Open? What do you think just generally about the way the case is being handled and the timeline?
TAYLOR FRITZ: I have no idea what the timelines are like on those things, so... I couldn't tell you if I think they should make a decision. I have no clue how long that's supposed to take.
But, I mean, I don't know. I think everything's been pretty I guess straightforward. All the stuff came out. He addressed it.
It's like I said at the US Open, it's one of those situations, like, my opinion doesn't matter at all. It's the same as everyone else's opinion. I don't have any knowledge that everyone here doesn't have. The people that know all the specifics are Jannik and his team, so...
I guess there will be a follow-up investigation or whatever. Yeah, like I said, my opinion doesn't really mean much. I'm pretty un-opinionated on the subject because there's no way of me knowing what's going on or what happened.
Q. How much pressure did you feel today on court? Can you compare that against playing against other local favorites in your career?
TAYLOR FRITZ: I don't feel like I felt too much pressure. I think a lot of that is just because I feel like I'm confident in my game right now. I've been playing well. When I got on court, I felt good, felt like I was playing good. A lot of things were working well for me.
For me playing the world No. 1 in Italy, I feel like the crowd was pretty respectful. I've definitely dealt with some pretty crazy stuff playing home players in other countries. It feels a lot worse. So I thought the crowd was pretty nice.
Yeah, it wasn't a very stressful match to play, honestly. It was a fun match to play. Like I said, it was very high level I think the whole time.
Q. You spoke about your match, the way you played tonight, better than probably at the US Open. What about Sinner? Someone thinks indoors is his best surface. Do you have the same feeling or do you think maybe it's not true? He's unbeaten this year indoors, but he didn't play so much. What do you think is his best surface?
TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, I think it makes sense that he's very good indoors. A lot of times the conditions indoors, it's a lot with just baseline play. There's no elements. There's no wind, so you can really just crush the ball, feel the ball well. I like to play indoors, as well.
Obviously when we played at US Open, it was also a little bit windy. I felt like he played a much better match today. I did, too. Just in general I think the level of the match was a lot higher.
Yeah, I mean, I think it makes sense that indoors is a surface that suits him a lot and suits his game a lot because of just the ability to strike the ball from the baseline.
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