Carlos Alcaraz was soundly beaten by Taylor Fritz at the Laver Cup, adding to a disappointing second day for Team Europe.
Alcaraz started his day well, winning his opening doubles match with Jakub Mensik. But when he moved over to singles, things did not go as smoothly.
Although it was the Spaniard’s first singles loss since the Wimbledon final, he spoke positively about Fritz after the match.
Even though he handled the loss well publicly, Alcaraz did say there were some things during the match that left him frustrated.
Carlos Alcaraz shares his frustration with court conditions after Laver Cup loss
It was only the seventh time Alcaraz has been defeated in 2025, going down 6-3, 6-2 to Fritz. Team World’s momentum continued to build over the weekend in San Francisco.
Following his match, the Spaniard was questioned in his press conference about the significant debate surrounding the courts at this year’s Laver Cup.
Alcaraz responded by saying he simply did not have enough time to adjust to the courts and found it difficult to get comfortable against Fritz. He pointed out that it was particularly ‘annoying’ not being able to figure out his positioning during play.
He explained: “Well, I mean, I think in conditions like this you need more time on court. Okay, I played doubles last night but you know, it’s totally different than singles.
“You have to see everything and I think I didn’t see the ball quite good let’s say. So I was feeling that I was a lot of times too far from the ball, that I didn’t keep in the right position in the right place which sometimes is annoying.
“But you know, I think today I needed more time on court. I needed more practice. More everything just to be better. That was an important thing that I need – more sets, points, rallies.
“I think just having one court is pretty difficult, you know, for the teams to have the practices you wanted before, you know, the matches. But it isn’t an excuse, but I think I feel like I needed more time to adapt my game to these conditions.”
Did Carlos Alcaraz feel added pressure as the top-ranked player?
The Laver Cup marked Alcaraz’s first appearance since reclaiming the ATP No. 1 ranking.
But he explained that any added pressure was not tied to his new ranking, but rather to Team Europe’s poor start on the day.
“Well, not really. Today I feel like I had to win the point, because the way that the day is going, so with the two losses, I feel like, okay, I had to win my match. 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 number one in the world.
“I think it is just a number. It shouldn’t give you pressure that you have to win everything and every match. It’s just okay; I’m there. But with the two losses, I felt a little bit of extra pressure.”
The situation did not get any easier for Alcaraz heading into Sunday. Team Europe finished Day 2 trailing 9-3 after losing all four matches.
The Spaniard is expected to play twice on Sunday – first alongside Casper Ruud in doubles before taking on Francisco Cerundolo in singles action.
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