T. FRITZ/D. Stricker
7-6, 6-4, 6-4
THE MODERATOR: Taylor, how satisfied are you with your game as you go into the second week?
TAYLOR FRITZ: I'm really happy. I feel like from the ground I've been playing good tennis all week. Then I feel like in the second and third set today, serve started coming together. I feel like how I closed out the match, like the last two sets, I feel like my serve started feeling like the best it's felt.
Yeah, just in time I feel like everything's coming together.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Dominic said he was playing so well, that he still just couldn't find the solutions against you because of how well you played and served. Talk about what Michael Russell told you after the match and how saving that energy was also so key?
TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I felt like, I mean, it was a physical match. Like, it was very humid out there. For just three sets and for just two hours, 15, it didn't feel like we were only 2:15 in. It didn't feel like it was only the third set. It was physical.
No doubt, kind of getting through my first three rounds without too much fatigue made me feel good. I know how I was feeling. I'm sure with how much tennis he's played, he's not feeling amazing either.
He served really well. He played well. It was huge for me in the second set and the third set that I served as well as I did. I kind of found it because he was putting a lot of pressure on my second serves in the beginning of the match.
Q. Do you feel you're peaking after getting the title in Atlanta, having the run in D.C., have energy saved? Do you feel you're peaking right now?
TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, to be honest, it's all relative from week to week. We're changing balls, changing conditions every week.
Like, I won the tournament in Atlanta, but I felt awful in Atlanta (smiling). So it's different. But as far as this week, US Open goes, everything's coming together for sure. I feel ready to now play my best tennis that I've played in the next match, and obviously I'm going to need it.
Q. You just alluded to it, your reward for reaching the quarterfinals is most likely going to be to face Novak Djokovic. How would you describe that challenge, given the experiences you've had and now the way you're playing?
TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I think the toughest thing is just convincing yourself that it's, like, just play within yourself. I don't need to find myself trying to hit serves bigger or aiming closer to the lines, stuff like that, because it's Novak.
I think I need to play within myself and trust that if I'm playing well, then that's going to be enough, and I don't need to kind of do anything extra.
Novak's Novak. It's tough. I said it on court: he's gotten me seven times. There's no one on tour that has any kind of a record like that against me, so I'm hoping one of these times I've got to get him. US Open quarters would be a pretty good time to get him (smiling).
Q. What is most remarkable to you about him at this stage of his career?
TAYLOR FRITZ: I'd say it's just the consistency and the attention to detail that he has in everything he does on the court, off the court.
I've said it a lot. The season's so long, there's so many tournaments. What he does off the court to, for himself, feel his best is a lot. It's a lot. It's incredible discipline. I'd say that's what I really admire the most about him. He's been doing it for as long as he has. He has pretty much all the records. He still is as disciplined as he is every single day.
Q. Would you consider this the biggest match of your career?
TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, yeah, it's on par with quarterfinals, Rafa, Wimbledon, then maybe finals Indian Wells, Rafa. I'd say it's in the same ballpark. They're definitely top three.
Q. Did you feel any pressure knowing the other two Americans won?
TAYLOR FRITZ: I wouldn't say it added more pressure. I'd say it motivated me more because I didn't want to be the one to not make it, especially when I am the favorite in the match to get through that draw. So I obviously wanted to be a part of the group of guys in the quarterfinals.
I called it, like, two rounds ago. I said, Hey, there's definitely going to be an American in the semifinals on that side, so...
Q. After the match, that was as emotional or more emotional than a lot of us have seen you after you've won some tournaments. Can you describe what you were feeling in that moment? Is it elation? Triumph? Relief?
TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, all of that. I wasn't thinking too much about the, I guess, moment or the occasion, that it's for the quarters. So obviously I win and then I kind of realize what the win means. Of course, that was a very tight match. I feel like if I don't serve it out there, like, who knows what happens.
It's also a release of, like, the stress and the pressure's gone because the match is over. Yeah, it's a whole combination of emotions.
I guess you don't get that when you're up two sets and 5-1, because you've kind of already had time to process in your head that you're going to win the match. It's like when you aren't thinking about the fact, you're not sure you're going to win the match, and then you do. Do you know what I mean?
Q. You're known for putting a tremendous amount of pressure on yourself. Do people around you ever say, You're doing fine, ease up?
TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah.
Q. Be as kind to yourself as you are to some of your buddies?
TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah. Paul tells me all the time that I need to be easier on myself (smiling). I fully believe the reason I'm at where I'm at is because I set really high expectations for myself, and I hold myself to a high standard. When I'm practicing, when I'm playing, I'm almost a perfectionist. I want everything to be right.
I don't know, it's who I am. It's why I've been successful in my career, is because I push myself.
Q. Did you watch Ben against Tommy, then Frances' match today?
TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, yeah. I had it on in the locker room when I was just, like, prematch, just relaxing, gripping my racquets, stuff like that.
Thoughts on the Tommy-Ben? I thought Ben played really well. I thought he played really, really well. Obviously Tommy was probably the better player in the first set. Didn't take his chances. That's how tennis is sometimes. You win the big points, you save break points, and convert on the few you get, you'll win. I thought that's kind of how the first set went.
The rest of the time I thought Ben played really, really well.
Frances' match? It looked pretty tight in the beginning, then I feel like once Frances kind of got that first break, he kind of just ran away with it.
Q. Is it different having a group of you? What is it like getting to this business end of things here, down to only eight guys left and three are Americans? Does that change any dynamic? Is it nice to see them in the locker room?
TAYLOR FRITZ: I wouldn't say it changes anything, but it's cool. Frances and I have been doing this for a long time, and we've come up together. He's one of my closest friends, so it's great to have this success together. It's great to see him in the locker room. He's always fun to hang out with.
Yeah, I mean, it's really cool to see three of the eight Americans at the US Open.
Q. How do you not make too much out of Tuesday? How do you go in and just play your game?
TAYLOR FRITZ: I mean, the good news is we just played, so I kind of got like a mental warm-up for it. I mean, it's good that I got the one in Cincinnati out of the way. Not that it would have necessarily changed anything, but I was not at my best that day.
I'm kind of glad for that, because I think that I'll be in a much better head space approaching this match. I've lost seven times to him. I have nothing to lose. I'm not going to overplay. I'm not going to do anything different because I'm playing Novak. I'm going to play my game, play within myself, and trust that if I play well, that it's enough.
Q. When Coco defeated Iga in Cincinnati, reversing that head-to-head, believing that I'm better on the day. Novak had to reverse head-to-heads against Roger and Rafa. Is that the way you see it? I see those examples, that's what I'm going to set out to do?
TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, what's happened in the past when I've played him, on those days that I've played him, I don't feel like I've ever really brought the game that I get on the court and I start playing, and I never feel like I brought the game that was good enough.
I was always thinking this might be good enough for a lot of people, but it's probably not good enough for Novak. Except for World Tour Finals. I think at World Tour Finals I had my chances for sure. Definitely should have had myself in a third set of that match.
Yeah, it's go on court, see how I'm playing, and if I'm playing well, I have to believe that's enough to win.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports