"It wasn't the match I was expecting": Carlos Alcaraz admits Taylor Fritz's performance stunned him in Laver Cup defeat

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz admitted that he was caught by surprise with the performance of America’s Taylor Fritz at the Laver Cup. The two-team based competition had a series of surprising results on the second day where Team World made a stunning comeback.

The team led by Andre Agassi won all four matches. One of those victories came over the reigning world number one, Alcaraz, who suffered a thumping defeat against Fritz. The 27-year-old came into the match winless against Alcaraz in three outings, but things turned on their head in the match, where the 2024 US Open runner-up was just unstoppable as he defeated the six-time Grand Slam winner in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2.

Alcaraz spoke to the media after the match and admitted that he was caught by surprise by Fritz’s display on the day. Alcaraz praised Fritz for playing a ‘great’ game of tennis. Alcaraz stated that he congratulated Fritz for the way he played the match and admitted that he expected himself to play much better on the day.

“Well, it wasn't the match that I was expecting,” said Alcaraz. But I think I have to look a little bit, you know, to him. I think he played a great tennis. It just wasn't as solid as I wanted in the match. And I think these conditions, you know, it's pretty slow. The balls are really big. So I had to be patient. I had to be solid. I didn't play that match today. And, you know, so proud to tell you that I played a great match, really solid, playing aggressive when he could. And I think everything went to his side. So I had to congratulate him and play a much, much better game than I did.   [Speaker 5]

Tough match out there. Taylor was saying he was particularly proud of the fact that he was committing to an aggressive game and he stuck with his game plan. Can you feel that a little bit out there, that he was going all out, swinging through the court?

Alcaraz then went on to highlight how Fritz managed to get rid of him on the day and point out that the aggressiveness with which America’s number one played the match was one of the pivotal reasons why he ended up winning the contest.

“I feel like he was more on the court than me,” said Alcaraz. “I think that the first or second shot of the rally was really important. And I think he did much better than I did. And I think that was the key because, as I said, in these conditions, I think that the first shots are really important. And when you're defending, when you're running on the court, it is really difficult to turn around the situations. It is really difficult when you're defending, turning to attack is really difficult because of the balls and the conditions that are really, really slow. As I said, Taylor was right. He was more aggressive than me. He did much better first shots than me. And I was running more than him. And I think that was the key today.”

Alcaraz was then asked about why the slowness of the surface went against him. In response to that, the young Spaniard stated the surface was so slow that he could not adapt to it despite playing in a doubles match a day earlier. Alcaraz stated that he needed more practice to produce the goods on the court.

“Well, I mean, I think in conditions like this, you need more time on court,” said Alcaraz. “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 or I feeling that I was a lot of time too far from the ball that I didn't hit 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 need more practise. I need more everything just to be better. I think that was an important thing that I needed more sets, more points, more rallies. That I think just having one court is pretty difficult, you know, for the teams to have the practises you wanted before the matches. But, you know, it is an excuse. But I think I felt like I needed more time to adapt my game to these conditions.”