Carlos Alcaraz was beaten in convincing fashion by Taylor Fritz at the Laver Cup, continuing a poor second day for Team Europe.
Alcaraz won his opening doubles match with Jakub Mensik, but he could not continue that winning feeling when he returned to the singles court.
The Spaniard had not lost a singles match since the Wimbledon final, but Alcaraz still had some warm words for Fritz after the match.
Despite being gracious in defeat, Alcaraz admitted after the match that he was frustrated about something during his match against Fritz.
Carlos Alcaraz says what he found ‘annoying’ about the conditions at the Laver Cup
Alcaraz lost just his seventh match this year, as he was beaten by Fritz, 6-3 6-2, as Team World continued to turn things around in San Francisco.
There has been a lot of discussion about the courts at the Laver Cup this year, and this is something that Alcaraz was asked about in his post-match press conference.
In his response, Alcaraz suggested that he needed more time to prepare on these courts and could not figure out his positioning against Fritz, which he found ‘annoying’.
“Well, I mean, I think in conditions like this, you need more time on court,” said Alcaraz. “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 time 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. I needed more everything just to be better. I think that was an important thing that I need more sets, more points, more 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.”
Carlos Alcaraz suggests if he felt more pressure as the world number one
The Laver Cup is the first tournament for Alcaraz since returning to world number one in the WTA rankings after winning the US Open.
However, Alcaraz admitted that he did not feel any extra pressure as world number one, but instead because Team Europe had already lost their first two matches of the day.
“Well, not really,” responded Alcaraz. “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 the number one in the world.
“I think the ranking, it is just a number. It shouldn’t give you the pressure that you have to win everything and every match. It’s just, okay, I’m there, but you have to still be doing the things that you were doing before. But with the two losses, I felt like a little bit of extra pressure.”
Alcaraz will likely feel even more pressure ahead of the final day of the 2025 Laver Cup, as Team Europe find themselves 9-3 down after losing every match on day two.
The 22-year-old is scheduled to be part of two matches on the final day of action, with Alcaraz partnering Casper Ruud in doubles, before returning to the singles court to play Francisco Cerundolo.
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