Fritz, on the decision to postpone his match due to the time rule: "I didn't understand anything"

With a day of delay, but with the job done. Taylor Fritz had to wait over 15 hours to complete his comeback against Mpesthi-Perricard in his first match at Wimbledon 2025. The American, who reached the quarterfinals in the last edition, found himself closer to elimination than to the second round when he was two sets down against one of the best servers on the circuit. But he reacted in time and endured the Frenchman's cannonballs, who hit the fastest serve in the tournament's history at 246 Km/h, to level the match at two sets.

Everything was in favor of the world number five, but at that moment, the umpire decided to suspend the match until today due to the curfew rule of the London major which prohibits playing beyond 23:00 hours, English time. A rule already known but which sparked controversy because when the decisive set was supposed to start, it was 22:20. In other words, there were still forty minutes left. This angered Fritz, who had the match where he wanted it. After securing the victory today, the Californian attended the press conference to discuss everything that happened last night, but also to talk about the court conditions or what it means to return the fastest serve in the history of the tournament.

Victory with a one-day delay

"Obviously, I wanted to play last night because I think we had time to play the fifth set. If there was no time, then I understand it didn't make sense to start. We could have played if we both agreed. I think he didn't want to. It's completely understandable. I wasn't upset with him for not wanting to play. I understand it perfectly. But still, I felt confident. I think it would've been easy to get frustrated for not being able to play last night. To be honest, I felt confident in the fifth set, whether it was last night or today. I had to tell myself that I would be sleeping because of what had just happened in the fourth set and that I would come back and keep doing what I was doing."

Different conditions without the covered roof

"Maybe just a little faster. Slightly. Not very different. Obviously with the roof open, there's going to be a bit of wind, just a bit more. I feel like the closed roof probably helped him a lot because the ball doesn't move at all. There's nothing affecting the ball. It's very easy to hit it. I've always felt that way with the roof closed."

His reaction when the umpire suspended the match

"Last night, I felt I was going to win. I felt very confident if we kept playing, I felt good about it. I was playing really well and anything could've happened. I felt more like we had time to play. I was mentally thinking it would end this match last night. Before the match, we were told: 'Are you ready to play until eleven? We're stopping at 11'. When I look at the clock at the end of the fourth set, I think: 'Oh, it's 10, there's no way they're stopping us. We're definitely playing the fifth set.' The idea of stopping wasn't even in my mind. I was totally tunnel vision on this match."

"We both had to agree to stop the match. If not, then the umpire makes a decision. What I didn't understand about the umpire is that after stating his decision, he kept asking me. I think he wanted me to agree with him. I told him: 'I don't know why you keep asking me, because I want to play. Stop asking me because you already said we're not going to play.' I didn't understand."

Trying to find an explanation

"I understand that the rule is to stop at eleven. It's more convenient to stop at the start of a fifth set than to stop if we are, again, hypothetically speaking, 45 minutes into it. Maybe we're, I don't know, in the middle of a 10-point tiebreak at 6-6. That's probably where we'd be at that timeframe if we don't finish. I get it. What I was willing to do and what I told the umpire is if there's no break, if we're at 5-5, stop at 5-5. That's fine. We're 100% getting to 5- in that timeframe. If someone breaks, then the match is sure to finish in that timeframe."

The challenge of returning a 246 Km/h serve

"I don't really mind because I don't have time to think. Usually, when I start thinking, that's when I mess up. It's all about reflexes. I think it's one of the things I do best in my returning game, when I like to be close, with the chip, grabbing the backhand. It's about hands and reflexes. I prefer dealing with the speed rather than the point. To be honest, in this match, I lost many crucial points that had nothing to do with the serve. That's why I let the first and second set slip away. I lost some neutral rally points that I thought I played really well, where he genuinely outplayed me from the baseline. That's where the first and second set went wrong for me."

Satisfied with court conditions

"I think the speed is pretty solid. One thing I've noticed this year, and I hadn't realized in previous years with all the tournaments I've played, is that it feels slower the more you play. It plays faster when it's newer. Last year, when I was in the quarterfinals, I felt it was very slow."

Great record against big servers

"Historically, I really enjoy playing against other big servers. I'd say I have a pretty good record against other big servers. I know I can go out and take care of my serve. Honestly, I think sometimes I return the serves of big servers as well as those of someone who doesn't have a good serve. I think there are parts that work for me. I like returning with pace. I don't need to take such a big swing to return. It's more of a feeling."

The key to victory, beyond the serve

Obviously, I think it takes some pressure off on returns when I feel I can hold on a bit longer. Yes, I'm not entirely sure, but I think I returned his serve yesterday and today as best as I could. I think I did my job returning in all sets. I don't think the sets I lost were because I didn't return the serve. Instead, I lost some rallies and didn't capitalize on some opportunities with my own serve.

In favor of not having time limitations like in the Australian Open or US Open

"Probably, I would prefer to finish late and have an extra day of recovery because physically this scenario is better, but mentally, it's much harder. I don't have that day where I can relax a bit and mentally, reset, focus on the next match. Yesterday, I was completely focused on this match. Last night, I was too. I didn't have the chance to rest, which is what you normally do after finishing a match. Today I woke up with my mind set on this match. Now I have to focus and readjust for the next match. I would say the mental aspect is more important. At least, if I finish very late, I have the whole day to mentally readjust and not worry about playing a match the next day," says Fritz, who had to wait one more day to finish his match due to a rule that is proving somewhat controversial.
 

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Fritz, sobre la decisión de aplazar su partido por la regla horaria: "No entendí nada"