"Didn't even know if I was going to be able to play this tournament" - Taylor Fritz triumph at Japan Open

Taylor Fritz defeated Frances Tiafoe in the Japan Open final and it was a dream ending to a week that almost never happened.

Fritz was in Seoul last week taking part in the Korea Open but it was not a good stay as he caught COVID and had the quarantine at the hotel. He was unsure whether he would test negative in time to play in Japan but everything worked out well for him as he was able to play:

"Yeah. I mean, turning such a bad situation where I was, you know, didn't even know if I was going to be able to play this tournament. And if I wasn't able to play, it would have to be after being in a hotel room for seven days, having COVID and then taking a flight in the morning of."

He added:

"So turning a situation like that into a title and doing it when it has such an important impact on the race, it just feels good to kind of clutch up and do something big like this-"

Fritz concluded by saying:

"It's crazy, I don’t even think it’s set in just how fast the last four or five days have been. It’s so crazy, and I couldn’t have written it any better. It’s exactly what I needed for the Race, for my ranking, to kind of put me in a good position for the end of the year, so it’s amazing."