Après sa victoire en patron face à Alexander Zverev, pourtant toujours en mission Grand Chelem, Taylor Fritz ne pouvait pas laisser passer sa chance d'aller chercher sa première finale en Grand Chelem, chez lui, à l'US Open. Opposé à son compatriote Frances Tiafoe, l'Américain a remporté une sacrée joute 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Un combat de 3h21. Mené deux manches à une, Fritz s'est montré impérial dans les deux derniers sets pour remporter la victoire la plus importante de sa carrière jusqu'à maintenant et se donner le droit de rêver. Fritz est le premier Américain en finale de l'US Open depuis Andy Roddick en 2006. Il tentera d'être le premier local à s'imposer à New-York depuis Roddick justement en 2003. Il faudra vaincre Jannik Sinner ce dimanche à 20h.
Vidéo : @USOpen
Vidéo : @USOpen
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00:00Yeah, I mean, it's a crazy match. I think a lot of it was about just handling the moment
00:14and the pressure. And he was playing at a very high level, I felt like, in the third
00:24and fourth sets. And it was really about just staying in it and kind of just withstanding
00:33how much pressure he was putting on me from the baseline with how he was, I mean, just
00:38either pulling me off the court on every shot or taking the ball super early, changing directions,
00:42which is like it's so hard to do what he was doing so just consistently. So it was really
00:50just about trying to withstand it for as long as I could, keep holding serve and apply
00:55the scoreboard pressure and just hope at a certain point that the errors are going to
01:03come a little more, I'm going to get a little more looks to attack and be aggressive. And
01:07you know, it got to that point in the end, I finally started to get some mistakes from
01:13him and some balls that I could, you know, look to be a little more aggressive on.
01:20Thank you. One question each, please. Eva. Congratulations, Taylor. When you talk about
01:26kind of wanting to stay steady and then when you're out there realizing that Francis is
01:29starting to make those mistakes and you have an opportunity, was it difficult for you at
01:33that moment, like even though you've been steady the whole time to stay calm?
01:37It was, it was interesting. So I think we both came out, I think we both came out pretty
01:42tight. I think he actually might've came out a little, a little more tight than me, but
01:48he calmed down quicker than I did. So I stayed a little tight for a little longer, but he
01:58was able to kind of rebound after the break and then, and then take the first. And that
02:01was tough, really tough, I guess, mentally for me to kind of swallow that I was up a
02:08break. Like I, I kind of just gave it, I kind of just gave the set away off of like my,
02:13my mistakes and like me being nervous. And the second set served well, was able to consolidate
02:23a break. Third set played a really bad game to start and that was it. And then, yeah,
02:28when he started making those mistakes in the end of the fourth to let me win the fourth
02:35set, that's, it actually probably motivated me a little more because I was waiting the
02:42whole third and fourth set, the whole fourth set, especially I was just waiting for, I
02:45was just like, when's it going to come? When's it going to come? I'm drilling balls to his
02:48forehand. He's drilling them back, whipping me off the court, changing direction. Like
02:52it's just like, it's just kind of what I was waiting for. And then once he maybe started
03:00making some mistakes, started lifting the ball a little bit more, allowing me to attack
03:07more of anything, it calmed, it calmed me down, I think, because it just, I just felt
03:13like now I had some breathing room and it was more, more in my hands, I guess.
03:17Peter.
03:18Just, you know, you were emotional on the court afterward. Just what were you thinking
03:23in that moment? Like what, what were you feeling?
03:26Yeah. I mean, I, I think I hadn't really like fully, I guess, registered and like hit me
03:32when, when Banks, I guess, said the thing about how in the finals and, and the crowd
03:40was cheering, I'm just like, it's just kind of like how I am. I'm like a more emotional
03:45person when I'm happy, when I'm like really happy. Like I cry at like happy endings and
03:49movies and like not at like sad stuff. So that's like, kind of just like how I am. So
03:55it's just, yeah, it's just, it's just joy. Like the crowd cheering and kind of that realization
03:59like, wow, like I'm actually, I'm, I'm, I'm in like the finals of the U.S. Open. It's
04:04such a, you know, lifelong, I guess, like dream come true is something I've worked my
04:09whole, my whole life for to be in, be in this situation. So I think just kind of like realizing
04:15that and like got me a little bit choked up.
04:17Taylor, can you just discuss why you're confident that you have a shot on Sunday to bring this
04:24home for you?
04:25I've always enjoyed, enjoyed playing him. To be honest, I don't think that I'm going
04:32to be put in a more like stressful situation than I was today and playing in the final.
04:37I think today is like much more stressful than, than me playing, playing the final.
04:42And I just, I just feel good. I have a feeling that I'm going to come out and play, play
04:46really well. And when, when I play good tennis, it's, it's I think that level is good enough
04:55to win.
04:56Chris.
04:57Taylor, can you talk about the, the way you said you were overwhelmed and you talked about
05:02how well Francis was playing and how you had to manage it and try to apply scoreboard pressure,
05:06but it was, it was a seriously incredible effort by you to be able to do that, given,
05:12given the stakes in that. How are you able to do it? And do you think that's been an
05:16integral part of who you are as a tennis player all along?
05:20Yeah. I think one thing that's never been in doubt throughout my tennis career, like
05:27whether I'm playing awful or hitting one side bad or whatever the situation could be throughout
05:32my career, the ups and downs, I think one thing that's never been in question is just
05:36like my, my heart and how I'm always going to compete no matter what. And what I just
05:42kept telling myself was just to, just to keep fighting and to keep working. And if I, if
05:47I don't give it just, you know, everything I have and just lock in as much as I possibly
05:52can, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to regret it forever if I don't take every, it's,
05:58it's easy in that moment to just switch off and, and not, I guess not want to, but yeah,
06:06I just told myself I'm, I'm, I'm going to always regret it if I just don't give it everything
06:11I have to, to stay in. And it was big. I had to, you know, stay with him and some of those
06:15like really long, crazy rallies. Cause I wanted to show him that I wasn't going to, I wasn't
06:21going to go away and I was feeling fit and I was going to keep, keep running for everything
06:27and fighting for every point. And you know, I think, I think that itself made, made a
06:32big difference for me. Howard, Matt, Willie Howard, Taylor, Howard Fendridge for the Associated
06:39Press. Can you explain what you meant when you said a moment ago that you think tonight
06:44was more stressful than Sunday might be? And that was also part of when you were talking
06:50about Sinner and enjoying that matchup. If you could go into a little bit how or why
06:56that's the case. Yeah. I mean, I mean, it's, it's two, it's two Americans to make it to
07:03the final. Both of us want to be the guy to make it to the final. I had a six and one
07:10head to head leading into it. So it's like, and I'm not thinking that I'm, I'm not going
07:15into this thinking that I'm the favorite because everything's totally different when you're
07:22playing a match like this. He's been playing unbelievable all U.S. Open. He's been playing
07:27in the night match slot on every single match. Like I'm not thinking I'm, I'm the favorite,
07:33but it's tough to go in as like the record six to one, this is to make a U.S. Open final.
07:41Whoever wins it is the American that made it to the final. It's a, it's, I mean, it's
07:46a stressful situation to be in. It's, it's different from playing the world number one
07:52who you're probably not going to be the favorite against. But I think I've always, I've always
08:02played well against, against Yannick. I think we're, we're one in one. It's been a while
08:07since we played, but last time he got me in three at a, at Indian walls and I don't know,
08:14he just, he strikes, he hits the ball big. He's like a, a very strong ball striker, but
08:19I feel like I always hit the ball really, really nice off of, off of his ball. And yeah,
08:25I don't know. I think, I think I, I typically play well against him.
08:32Hey Tyler, well done. Um, you, you're so close to Francis, like on the court and you're passing
08:39him at changeovers. Is there any, before he cracked there and he had said his body was
08:46cramping and suffering from nerves. Do you sense anything in his body language, anything
08:51you're picking up that says this? I think there's something different here. I think
08:55he's wilting a little bit.
08:58To be honest, no, he did an incredibly good job of, uh, not showing me, to be honest.
09:03We played that one extremely long rally and I was trying my best to not show that I was
09:09pretty gassed after that point. For me, I feel like it's, it's more like I'm gassed
09:13for like 30 seconds to like a minute. I feel like I'm like, I can't stand up, but then
09:19once I can change, go to the changeover, sit down and like relax for a minute, then I feel
09:23like I'm totally fine. But in that moment, when I went over the towel box, I like bent
09:27over. I was, I didn't want to bend over. I had to, I looked over at him and he didn't
09:32like go hands to knees or anything like that. So I was like, okay, I know I feel awful.
09:37Like he, he has to feel a little bit tired, but he, he, he did a good job of making me
09:43believe that, uh, I guess he wasn't feeling any worse than, than I was. I think the only,
09:51the only thing that I thought was funny or that I noticed very early on in the match,
09:56I hit like a really, uh, like a really insane volley for, for me. And typically if I were
10:05to do something like that, Francis would be like laughing and I would look at, he loves
10:09to like laugh when I hit a good volley because, because he, I mean my, my volleys aren't great
10:14and he always like over exaggerates how bad it is. So I looked over him expecting him
10:19to be like smiling at me and he was like dead serious. So I was like, okay, he's like, he's
10:25really serious. He's really locked into this one because normally like he'd be, he'd be
10:29like joking about something like that.
10:31Uh, last two, Willie and then Richard, you can finish up.
10:35Taylor, what do you think your success and Francis's until tonight and what the rest
10:41of the Americans have done here means? And what do you think Sunday might mean for men's
10:46tennis after all these years?
10:48I think regardless of, regardless of the result, I think it, it gives hope and shows
10:55that we're, we're knocking on the door of, of, uh, of winning a slam. And we have this,
11:02this generation, this group of guys where there's like four or five of us that are,
11:07that are like actually at, uh, at this level. So it, uh, I mean, it shows that we're all
11:15moving in the right direction. I think that, um, whenever one of us does something, the
11:22others, the others follow, the others get belief from it. And, uh, yeah, I think, I
11:29think this is just the, uh, just the start for, for all of us.
11:34Richard, last question, please. Thank you, Taylor. You've been the leader of this particular
11:38group of guys for so long now from the outside, it's kind of always felt like really you were
11:44supposed to be the first guy to get to this breakthrough. And I just wondered if you
11:49ever saw it that way, or did you have that kind of belief all along? I know you're not
11:53one to say that you were the head of the group, but I imagine you had some belief that you
11:59were supposed to be the guy.
12:01I don't know if I, if I like, I mean, I wanted it. I wanted to be, to be the guy I, that's
12:11what I, all of us, all of us want to be. I wouldn't say I feel like, I wouldn't say
12:17I felt like I was entitled to it. Um, I just really just wanted, obviously, um, I've been
12:27the highest ranked for a while. I was able to win Indian Wells. And then I, I was, I
12:34was like the only one that didn't have a slam semifinal. So I really, I really wanted that,
12:40but no, I don't think I felt like it needed to be me or like it had to be me. I just, I
12:48really, uh, I don't know. I just, I just really wanted to have success at slams and to, and
12:55to get to this point. But, um, yeah, yeah. I don't know. I think it's, uh, it's just,
13:03it's just a great feeling to be here. And you know, the match tonight could have, could
13:08have gone either way and it could have easily been Francis in the final. And if it was,
13:12I, I would have been.