Laver Cup 2025: Carlos Alcaraz pinpoints ‘tough’ results after Team Europe falls short - 'I had to be ready'
Published 22/09/2025 at 12:51 GMT+1
Carlos Alcaraz put it all on the line for Team Europe on the final day of the Laver Cup in San Francisco. Despite teaming up with Casper Ruud to win in the doubles and delivering a singles victory over Francisco Cerundolo, it was not enough, with Team World winning for the third time in four years. But it was the “tough” loss to Taylor Fritz that was playing on the mind of the world No. 1.
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Two wins from Carlos Alcaraz in the Laver Cup were not enough for Team Europe, who came up just short against Team World in San Francisco.
The world No. 1 delivered two superb performances on the final day of action, teaming up with Casper Ruud to deliver a much-needed doubles victory against Alex Michelsen and Reilly Opelka 7-6(4) 6-1, before beating Francisco Cerundolo 6-2 6-1 in the singles.
But it was his straight-sets loss the previous evening to Taylor Fritz that was playing on Alcaraz’s mind in the wake of Team Europe’s defeat.
"[Saturday] night was tough, it was a tough night and a tough day in general with the losses," Alcaraz explained in the press conference.
"Normally when you lose in a tournament, you are out of the tournament, but here, you have another chance to be better, another chance to help the team with the points."
The Spaniard did just that, but it was not to be with his nemesis Fritz winning the final singles match against Alexander Zverev to deliver overall victory for Team World.
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Alcaraz did everything he could to keep the team in contention going into that final match, opting to play doubles and singles on the same day, having played doubles on Friday and singles on Saturday.
"I had to be ready, I had to forget that I lost [the previous] night, take everything that I did good from the match, and take the things I did wrong last night and be better," Alcaraz explained.
"And when I came back I played great tennis in the doubles and the singles. If I was tired, I was ready.
"There was a discussion with the team who is going to play the doubles, but I was there and ready to play the doubles."
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Against Fritz, Alcaraz was on the defensive from the word 'go', and while he got plenty of balls back in play, he could not make as many inroads into the American’s booming serve.
Fritz handed Alcaraz just his fifth loss of the year on hard courts, and first since Miami back in March.
"When you are defending, when you are running on the court, it is really difficult to turn around the situations," Alcaraz had explained in the wake of that defeat.
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"It is really difficult when you are defending, turning to attack is really difficult because of the balls and the conditions that are really slow.
"As I said, Taylor was right. He was more aggressive than me. He did much better the first shots than me, and I was running more than him. I think that was the key."
Fritz’s victory was his first over Alcaraz, who beat him in last year’s edition of the Laver Cup, and still leads their head-to-head 3-1.
Despite that one loss on his record, Alcaraz says that the pressure of being world No. 1 again - having reclaimed the top spot after winning the US Open - is not playing on his mind.
"I think the ranking is just a number. It shouldn't give you the pressure that you have to win everything and every match," he concluded.
"It's just, okay, I'm there, but you still have to do the things that you were doing before."
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