Taylor Fritz

Press Conference

A. MICHELSEN/T. Fritz

6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Tough luck today, Taylor. How do you assess your performance overall for this tournament?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Pretty bad. Just not the best match for me. I think that I struggled a lot with the wind in the beginning. I was trying to be aggressive, and when I was trying to be aggressive with the wind, I just couldn't.

Just made a lot of mistakes mistiming the ball, so I kind of had to just accept that wasn't really working and try to just put more balls in the court.

But he was playing well. He was able to dictate and move me around and, you know, with how windy I felt like it was, he was doing a really good job with still being able to attack. I just felt like when I tried to do that, I was really struggling to not make mistakes.

You know, I kept feeling like if I got the break back, I could kind of turn it around, and I was close. You know, I'm not sure how I don't win the set point that I had. I thought I played it pretty well, thought I hit a pretty good overhead, and he just played good defense on it.

Yeah, maybe it could have been different if I got the second set.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What impresses you about Alex's game?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Like in general or specifically today?

Q. Today and in general.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Today I was really impressed with how he served. I practice with him a lot. I don't feel like he normally serves that well. Just especially on the big points today, he just served incredible on a lot of the big points.

When he really needed it, he'd put a serve on the line, a lot of first serves. It was very good serving from him today.

I mean, in general, he's got great hands. He comes to the net well. He can move the ball around great with his backhand.

Like I said, I practice with him quite a bit. I was impressed. I know he's a good player, but I was also very impressed with him today.

Q. Nobody ever wants to lose, and this wasn't one of those days, but can you ever lose and still have fun?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yes, but today wasn't one of those days (smiling). You know, there's days where I feel like I'm playing really good tennis, and, you know, when I'm playing well and hitting the ball well, it is fun.

Sometimes I do lose on those days, and I can still say, you know, it sucks, but at the same time, like, I'm happy with how I played. But like I said, it's not necessarily today.

Q. Is there anything you feel like you want to do going into Miami? I don't know if there is any adjustments you're trying to make or if it's just one match you didn't think you played well in?

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, I mean, like I said, I didn't feel amazing out there, but, you know, when I warmed up before the match today, I felt great. I thought I was hitting the ball amazing.

I think a big factor of it was just the wind. It really picked up in the time from when I warmed up to when I actually played.

Yeah, I was having a really hard time just taking a bigger swing, being aggressive in the match. Like I said, typically when that happens, I just kind of shorten up the swings, be more consistent. You know, I did that and he was still able to, you know, attack and hurt me.

It's tough, but, you know, I'm doing a lot of things well. I think I'm serving probably the best I have ever served before. Again, I think the wind today made it kind of tough for me to really pinpoint my spots as well as I have been.

But, you know, I just want to see myself being a bit more aggressive on shots that aren't as easy, so, you know, kind of raising, you know, raising the aggressiveness a bit on balls that maybe I feel not great about attacking, because they're, I guess, maybe slightly better than neutral balls.

I'd like to be just returning and moving a bit better, as well. I think that's kind of the things that I need to get back up to par, because I do think I'm serving as well as I have ever served, really.

Q. Wondered about your opponent, what impressed you most about him today.

TAYLOR FRITZ: Yeah, like I said, I practice with him a good bit, and I was just really impressed with how he served, especially. More than anything, he just always came up with a really good serve when he needed it. You know, in the tiebreaker, two big points the tiebreaker, two serves on the outside of the line, several of the breakpoints I had, really great serves.

Yeah, I was really impressed with that. As someone who practices with him a lot and plays with him a lot, I feel like the serving was really high level from him. And then I was impressed with how well he was able to just maneuver the ball in the wind.

I was having a really hard time just attacking. I was having a really hard time doing anything other than just playing with big margins and putting the ball in play.

He was able to change direction, be aggressive. He was putting returns deep. I was really impressed with just his ball striking and aggressiveness and control in the wind, because that's something that I was really struggling to do that.