Carlos Alcaraz just had one of the most surprising losses of his career at the 2025 Laver Cup in San Francisco. The world No. 1 got completely outplayed by Taylor Fritz, losing 6-3, 6-2 in what nobody saw coming.
It was pretty shocking, honestly.
Alcaraz had started the weekend on a good note. He teamed up with Jakub Mensik on Friday to beat Fritz and Alex Michelsen in doubles. Everything seemed normal.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carlos Alcaraz | 22 | 68,791 | 25 - 5 |
But Saturday’s singles match was a completely different story.
Fritz, who’s been playing some great tennis lately, put together one of the best performances of his career. He didn’t just beat Alcaraz – he dominated him from start to finish.
The loss hit Team Europe hard. They were counting on their top player to get crucial points, and instead they watched him struggle for nearly two hours.
After the match, Alcaraz was pretty honest about what went wrong.
"It wasn’t the match that I was expecting, but you know, I think I have to look a little bit to him that I think he played great tennis," he said. "I just wasn’t as solid as I wanted in the match, and I think these conditions, 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."
The conditions in San Francisco are definitely unique. The balls feel heavier, the courts play slower, and it’s a totally different environment than most ATP tournaments.
Fritz figured out how to use all of that to his advantage.
"So respect to Taylor, who played a great match, really solid, playing aggressive when he could," Alcaraz continued. "I think everything went to his side, so I had to congratulate him and that play much better game than I did."
Fritz controlled the match from the start
What made this loss even more surprising was how Fritz completely took control early. Usually when Alcaraz loses, you can point to specific mistakes or moments where things went wrong.
This time was different. Fritz was just better.
"I feel like he was more on the court than me," Alcaraz explained. "I think that the first or second shot of the rally was really important, and I think he did it much better than I did."
That’s actually a pretty big deal in tennis. The player who dictates those early shots usually controls the entire point.
In slow conditions like San Francisco, it becomes even more important. Once you’re running around defending, it’s really tough to turn things around.
"When you are defending, when you are running on the court, it is really difficult to turn around the situations," Alcaraz said.
The Spanish star kept coming back to how well Fritz handled the conditions. While Alcaraz seemed to struggle with the slower pace, Fritz used it perfectly.
"It is really difficult when you are defending, turning to attack is really difficult because of the balls and the conditions that are really slow," he added. "As I said, Taylor was right. He was more aggressive than me. He did much better the first shots than me, and I was running more than him. I think that was the key today."
You don’t often hear Alcaraz give this much credit to an opponent after a loss. But Fritz really earned it.
The American has been climbing the rankings steadily, and wins like this show he’s capable of beating anyone on his day.
For Alcaraz, it’s just one match. At 22, he’s already won multiple Grand Slams and has shown he bounces back quickly from tough losses.
The Laver Cup isn’t over yet either. Team Europe still has a chance, and Alcaraz will get another shot to help them.
On Sunday, he’ll team up with Casper Ruud for doubles against Michelsen and Reilly Opelka. Then he’s got another singles match, this time against Francisco Cerundolo.
It’ll be interesting to see how he responds. The best players usually come back stronger after unexpected losses like this.
