Tennis - Wimbledon 2024 - Taylor Fritz : "Alexander Zverev got annoyed with my box..."

[Music] Taylor through to the quarterfinals you must be pretty happy with your performance yeah really happy obviously I think uh second time in the quarters but uh you know when you when you do it like that I think it uh it feels even better than the last time hi Taylor fan here from Cy shot congrats on your win what did you change tactically from the third set onwards to over the line not not too much I think I mean in the first set I was returning really close up chipping forehands and to be honest I mean you're not going to have a lot of success returning and serve like wherever you you can stand anywhere it's not really going to it's not going to feel great but um when I backed it up in uh maybe it was the end of the first or the second I felt like I was putting more returns in the court so um no change really in the Third change in the second felt good felt like you know maybe at some point I could grab a break but the main thing was just to keep holding serve keep being aggressive um after the first half halfway through the first set I just trying to like move the ball around a little a little more um I came out attacking going into his forehand probably a little too much um and he was he was ready for it he was hitting his for really well so um I wanted to uh just move my forehand uh around a bit more but uh big changes well was second set tiebreaker I played a little safe on some shots thinking that he would also Play Safe And and he kind of beat me to the punch so my main thing as well going into the uh the fourth set breaker was to you know pull the trigger on the shots as soon as I saw the opportunity yeah um so I mean I think we were all curious about the exchange at the net and we were asking Sasha about it and and also asking him about your his opinion of your quality and he he basically said like I was playing on one leg today um is you know surprising to to some of us at least and so I'm curious if you could Enlighten us and like what you guys were talking about and also what you thought about the effect of all that on the match yeah I mean at I mean at the net like it's it's no big deal like he I think he felt you know that he was um for parts I guess towards the end of the fifth at least like kind of uh limping around a bit so I I think he he was you know annoyed at some people in my box just being loud cheering for me which you know I honestly I can't hear I I don't I don't know but um like no big deal you know he said it's not nothing towards towards me or anything like that but I mean as far as his injury like I I don't know I thought the match seemed extremely normal until I was up the break in the fifth and then I feel like that's when I felt like he was like limping and moving so I I I I don't know I can't speak to the seriousness of his injury I I tried to play the match extremely straight up I've hyperextended my knee pretty bad before and for me it's different for everyone I guess but for me when I did it I was a little sore felt like my knee was stretched out but I I played normally pretty normally the following days so going into it I was just trying to I guess uh approach the match as if he's you know healthy so again I can't I can't speak for how healthy he is or not but um yeah that's that's what we're talking about in net but I mean it's it's you know it's not a big deal it's it's all good how and Taylor uh what in the end would you say you're most pleased about your performance today I mean from I mean obviously I can say like kind of sticking with it from two sets down but I I feel like I'm I'm always going to do that especially when I feel like I was playing good tennis I think what I was the most pleased about was just my game from the ground like backand forehand just once we got into the rallies I I felt like I was I was playing about as good as I could play F Taylor just on a side note do you think tennis needs a master thousand on on grass there also Advanced conversations that is going to happen Saudi Arabia or Andy M suggested one in Latin America what is what is your thought what do you think is most important I mean I think there should definitely be a Masters on on grass I think that's like we have Masters on on every surface several on every surface uh this is a this is a huge part of the year and I mean people people love this you know people love grass cor seas and why why not add a a master I think I think it should you know how people do in this part of this season should probably reflect more on the rankings and that would you know I think having a Masters 1000 would be a big step in in the right direction for that jasine hi Taylor congrats just on Z's issue with people in your box he's come in here and said his issue is with people that aren't from the tennis world and that you and your coach are respectful so it will be someone else what's your thoughts on that yeah I mean I I I don't know like I said I uh can't hear like I can't hear I don't really hear my box when I'm when I'm playing like that so I I didn't hear anyone being like Extremely Loud you know he's he's totally um allowed to to be annoyed if they were being annoying I don't like again I don't know that's one of the things I asked him at net was like who who was who was it but uh um yeah I mean it's again like it's not a it's not a big thing it's it it's all good Willie looking ahead to your next opponent somebody you've played before what are your thoughts about this matchup and the key for you I mean the key the key is always going to be serving well and returning well I feel like if I don't if I do those two things well um then then I like my chances and you know luckily for me it should hypothetically be easier to return serve than it was today in in the next match but uh yeah he's he's tricky and he's been playing well we made the finals of Queens um this will be my first quarterfinal where I'm the more experienced person in Slam quarterfinals having played Novak twice and Rafa once so hopefully that'll uh will help me a little bit but I I know I'm gonna have to play well about it it is also about MTI and uh what you expect I mean where you surprised because he always plays very much from behind behind the Baseline that he was able to do a final in Queens do a semi-final in stard he when he played you uh I think 2022 uh on graph it was much worse player than is now on grass what do you expect that he could do so many progress yeah I I think I you know I saw a bit of his first match at queens and I was like I was I was very impressed I thought that uh he was he was playing well and he's I think he's made really good progress and and shown a ton of improvement on you know over the last like 6 months to a year on surfaces that aren't clay he's he's shown that you know he can have results and and play really good tennis on on every surface Howard what do you enjoy the most about playing on grass uh I think what I enjoy the most on grass is just like when you hit a good shot you're rewarded for it I think and and that's the case at at a lot of you know some hardcore tournaments as well but like you know one thing that just annoys me so much is we're playing sometimes with like balls that are so like dead and soft and on like a super slow course is like I can hit the best I I feel like I'm taking so much risk to hit like the best shot ever and it's accomplishing absolutely nothing in the rally and I just feel like tennis should should never be like that if you if you take the risk and go for a shot you should you should be rewarded for it so I think that's that's that's what I really love about grass yeah congratulations um can you compare this just a briefly a little bit more to the first time to the quarters you mentioned that but also can you compare this experience with that incredible run to the Indian Wells title when you were younger I don't know if I'd compare it so much to the the Indian Wells run because I don't know I was just like barely scraping through some it just that was just a I don't know it's a the weeks just feel I guess a little different I don't know but um compared to the last one in quarter it's like the draw I mean my draw was as you would expect it to be I guess when it when it came out you know the seeds won I played uh the players I guess I expected to play and it's it's a different feeling obviously coming back from two sets down against against a really good player to to be able to make the quarters I think last time around uh draw opened up I didn't lose I don't think I lost a set on the way to the quarters so it was kind of just like Smooth Sailing like Cruise there so it's obviously at the time I was so you know so pumped to be in the quarters but um it it just feels a little bit better when you're I guess made to made to work for it a little more you feel like you you sort of sneaked up on people at all here I don't know if it's because maybe you were you you played you had your big success on grass like the week before year correct yeah right before East right and or but I don't know it's I'm just curious how you experienced that yeah I mean I don't think I I don't think anyone could say that they weren't were like I guess not ready for me to be playing well when you win literally win the tournament the week before Wimbledon obviously if you win the tournament l p wi then you're going to come into the tournament feeling pretty good and and have confidence and and be a threat I think you know all players know how big of a deal just confidence is it it's makes a world of difference so anytime you play someone that's that's been winning I I don't think it's ever a surprise if they're playing well we going take one last one Howard just wondering whether uh you and Tommy had any interaction at all yesterday after his win or today after years and it's been a while since there've been a couple of American men to reach the quars yeah I mean lot of inter I mean a lot of interaction it's tough not to Tommy Tommy is you know one of my closest friends if not like my best friends so we we talk we talk all the time and see each other in the locker room all that I told him one thing that was funny was I played on that Court two that he played his match on um around the same time and the way the sun was coming down in the first set usually when the sun comes down you get the glare to your like left side this one it's like pretty straight on so it's like I was telling him in my match at this one point I was the most blind I've ever been in my life on a tennis court ever and he thought I was like exaggerating and then he played at the same time and he said he got broken and like he got broken and like whiffed a ball during that game and he was he told me today he's like dude you weren't you weren't lying about it and I go D I'm telling you you literally couldn't see anything so that was kind of a funny thing we talked about about his uh 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