Carlos Alcaraz falls to Taylor Fritz at Laver Cup: 'The pressure wasn't because I am World No. 1'

Match Reaction

Alcaraz falls to Fritz at Laver Cup: 'The pressure wasn't because I am World No. 1'

Spaniard loses in straight sets at Laver Cup on Saturday

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Taylor Fritz earns his first Lexus ATP Head2Head win over Carlos Alcaraz in his fourth attempt. By ATP Staff

Carlos Alcaraz’s return to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time since 2023 didn’t go as planned, but he insists that he came up against the better player.

The 22-year-old Spaniard’s 13-match winning streak, which included his milestone US Open triumph, came to an end at the hands of a fired-up Taylor Fritz at the Laver Cup on Saturday night. Alcaraz committed 19 unforced errors to Fritz’s 10, and later reflected on the match.

“It wasn't the match that I was expecting, but I think I have to look a little bit to him that I think he played great tennis,” said Alcaraz. “I just wasn't as solid as I wanted in the match, and I think these conditions, it's pretty slow. The balls are really big, so I had to be solid. I didn't play that match today.

“Taylor played a great match, really solid, playing aggressive when he could. I think everything went to his side, so I had to congratulate him and that he played a much better game than I did.”

Team Europe trailed 3-5 heading into their leading player Alcaraz’s night-session clash, but the Spaniard was unable to come up with solutions across his 6-3, 6-2 defeat. Asked whether the weight of being World No. 1 played on his mind, Alcaraz dismissed the idea.

“Not really. Today I feel like I had to win the point, because the way that the day is going, with the two losses, I feel like I had to win my match,” Alcaraz said. “It was a little bit of extra pressure, because of the way that the day was going on, but it wasn't because I'm the No. 1 in the world.

“I think the ranking is just a number. It shouldn't give you the pressure that you have to win everything and every match. I'm there, but you have to still do the things that you were doing before. But with the two losses, I felt a little bit of extra pressure.”

It marked Fritz's first Lexus ATP Head2Head win over Alcaraz in his fourth attempt, giving Team World a 7-3 lead before Alex de Minaur and Alex Michelsen improved that to 9-3 with their doubles win over Casper Ruud and Holger Rune.

Alcaraz, who owns a 61-7 record this season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, will try to make amends when he faces Francisco Cerundolo on Sunday evening in Team Europe’s bid to win its second consecutive title at the teams event.

Cerundolo, who dispatched Rune in straight sets on Saturday, is another player known for his aggressive game, and Alcaraz will have to find the solutions he was unable to against the big-hitting Fritz.

“I feel like he was more on the court than me,” Alcaraz said of Fritz. ”I think that the first or second shot of the rally was really important, and I think he did it much better than I did. I think that was the key, because as I said, in these conditions, I think the first shots are really important.

“When you are defending, when you are running on the court, it is really difficult to turn around the situations. 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 on the first shots than me, and I was running more than him. I think that was the key today.”

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