Team Europe’s title defence at the Laver Cup came to an end on the final day, when Team World’s Taylor Fritz clinched the win in the decisive tie against Alexander Zverev.
The score finished 15-9 in favour of captain Andre Agassi‘s side, whose victory was helped largely by a 4-0 sweep on day two of the event, which saw Fritz defeat world number one Carlos Alcaraz.
Alcaraz suffered a heavy straight-sets loss to the American, falling to him for the first time at a tour-level competition, 6-3, 6-2.
Though he went on to win his next two matches at the Laver Cup, the Spaniard’s result against Fritz left many fans shocked, but former US Open champion Andy Roddick thinks there was a good reason for the upset.
Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for Laver CupAndy Roddick reacts to Carlos Alcaraz’s loss to Taylor Fritz
“Let’s level set what the last month of Carlos Alcaraz’s life has looked like,” said Roddick while hosting ‘Served Live’ in San Francisco.
“If we want to get crazy and super responsible with commentary, let’s go back to April, where
he starts this run in Monte Carlo.
“I think the stat is so ridiculous. I’m going to be off by one. He has made nine or ten straight finals, including a bunch of master series events, Monte Carlo Rome, I mean, it just goes on and on and on.
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“Three majors, of which he won two and played in maybe one of the best matches that I’ve ever seen with my own eyeballs at Roland Garros.
“Wins the US Open, I think it’s the best that I’ve ever seen him play, which is saying something when you’re talking about a phenom like Carlos Alcaraz. He goes home, doesn’t play Davis Cup, has two weeks before this event.
“There is no chance that a responsible coach and or fitness trainer says you’re gonna be putting in six-hour days for these two weeks.
“At some point, something has to give, and I think we have to give Carlos Alcaraz props because it would have been very easy to take the month and then finish the year. He actually showed up and played, even when he’s probably a little bit unprepared.
“There’s just no world where he should have been taxing himself physically or mentally post-US open. Like, there’s just not a world where that actually happens.
“Also like, what are we doing? This guy has created a shadow to where he loses to the number four player in the world who has been in a major final and was in the semis of Wimbledon this year, and we’re all going: ‘What happened? How could that possibly be?’”
Carlos Alcaraz could meet Taylor Fritz against at next ATP event
Alcaraz will now travel to Tokyo to get his Asian swing underway at the Japan Open, where he will look to secure his eighth title of the 2025 ATP season.
The six-time major champion has a favourable route to the crown in Japan, though he is on a collision course with Frances Tiafoe and Laver Cup teammate Casper Ruud.
Should Alcaraz make it to the final, he may have the chance to earn revenge against Fritz, who enters the tournament as the second seed.
The US number one will face his own challenges en route to the championship match, however, with the likes of Gabriel Diallo and Tomas Machac in his way in the early stages.