It was a “home” tournament win for Team World at this year’s Laver Cup, which pits European players against the rest of the world, including Americans. And that was despite two highly seeded Americans bowing out at the last minute.
It was a big deal for tennis fans that the Laver Cup came to San Francisco’s Chase Center this year. The invitational tournament, modeled after golf’s Ryder Cup, is now in its eighth year, and moves around to different cities every year, with this being the third time it’s been played in the US.
And Team Europe has been dominant in five of the last seven Laver Cup tournaments, including the 2024 edition — though, surprisingly, Team World won out in 2022 tournament, which was the last time Team Europe included the three dominant world champions of their generation, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal.
Taylor Fritz of Team World (R) greets Carlos Alcaraz of Team Europe following their match during day two of Laver Cup 2025 at Chase Center on September 20, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images for Laver Cup)
But Sunday’s final proved to be a big win for Team World and American player Taylor Fritz in particular, after he remained dominant through the weekend. Fritz, currently the world’s fifth seed player, defeated number-one seed Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday in two sets, barely two weeks after Alcaraz’s decisive win at the US Open. And on Sunday, Fritz defeated number-three seed Alexander Zverev to take Team World to their tournament win, deafeating Team Europe by six points, 15-9 in the Laver Cup’s scoring system.
The final scores for Fritz and Zverev: 6-3 and 7-6(4).
Alex De Minaur of Team World, Reilly Opelka of Team World, Team World Captain Andre Agassi, Jenson Brooksby of Team World, Taylor Fritz of Team World, Alex Michelsen of Team World, Joao Fonseca of Team World, Team World Vice Captain Patrick Rafter, and Francisco Cerundolo of Team World pose with the Laver Cup Trophy after defeating Team Europe during day three of Laver Cup 2025 at Chase Center on September 21, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for Laver Cup)
As Sports Illustrated notes, Team World also benefited from the last-minute addition by team Captain Andre Agassi of Australian player Alex de Minaur, who ended up defeating Zverev in Saturday’s round.
It had appeared to be Team Europe’s tournament to lose, when Team World lost highly ranked American players Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe to (alleged) injuries in the last couple of weeks, and given the usual dominance of Zverev and Alcaraz. But, to many fans’ surprise, Team World took this one, and some may credit the coaching/captaining by the legendary Agassi.
“Everybody played a part in making this one of the most memorable weeks I’ve ever spent on a tennis court,” Agassi said, speaking to the media after the tournament. “Just unflappable. They never stopped believing. They laid their heart on the line. On paper, a lot of people said they didn’t see an inroad to pulling this off, but we shocked the world.”
And Fritz was pretty excited for the win as well. “Seeing these guys on the bench getting pumped up, seeing a legend of the sport like Andre jumping out of his seat cheering for me, it’s just impossible not to be so fired up giving everything I have every point,” Fritz said. “It was a great feeling to clinch it in the end.”
As Fritz told Reuters, “We’re going to have a fun night. We’re definitely popping champagne in the locker room in a few minutes.”
While players receive fees and prize money, and the Laver Cup is an officially sanctioned event by the ATP, it does not count toward players’ tour ranking points.
The tournament was co-founded in 2017 by Roger Federer and Brazilian businessman Jorge Paolo Lemann, and Federer was in San Francisco last week to ring in the eighth edition of the tournament.
The 2026 edition of the Laver Cup will be played in London, at the O2 Arena.
Top image: Taylor Fritz of Team World (C) and teammates lift the Laver Cup trophy after defeating Team Europe during day three of Laver Cup 2025 at Chase Center on September 21, 2025 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for Laver Cup)