SEPT 19 - 21, 2025 | SAN FRANCISCO
American Taylor Fritz makes his fifth Laver Cup appearance in San Francisco, roughly 500 miles from his Southern California birthplace. The 27-year-old Team World stalwart will strive to improve on his 5-2 win-loss record when the striking black court is installed at Chase Center, and he’s hoping US fans show up in force to cheer their home side across the finish line.
How it’s going
The top-ranked American lifted two grass-court ATP Tour titles this season in Eastbourne and Stuttgart, sweeping past Alexander Zverev in the final of the latter to earn a fifth consecutive victory over the German. Fritz’s best Grand Slam result of the season came at Wimbledon, where he advanced to his maiden semifinal at the All England Lawn Tennis Club and won his first set against rival Carlos Alcaraz.
The World No. 5 reached the last four in Toronto, falling in straight sets to Team World compatriot Ben Shelton. At this month’s US Open, the fourth seed’s campaign ended in the quarterfinals against Novak Djokovic, a match where he converted two out of 13 break-point opportunities.
The appeal of Laver Cup
Laver Cup week stands out as a bright spot during the season, said Fritz, who contributed to Team World’s back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023 with singles wins over Cameron Norrie and Andrey Rublev. “I just love playing events with this team camaraderie and being with the team on the bench,” he said. “Cheering for them when I’m not playing [and] having them cheer for me when I’m playing, it’s just great to have that kind of energy — it’s just different from anything that we really do elsewhere.”
“The energy that we give to each other makes us all play a lot better and kind of rise to the occasion,” Fritz said, adding that he’s played some of his best tennis at Laver Cup.
“It’s just different when you have a team to celebrate with,” he said. “It makes it so special having those moments — you can celebrate such a big win with all your close friends.” The American has dubbed his unwavering self-belief as delusional at times and plans to share that unrestrained optimism with the men in red.
“What I bring is just my very positive, confident energy, my confidence to the team,” he explained. “I always believe that we’re going to win and we’re going to get it done. I think that I really push that feeling onto everybody and hopefully give us that reassurance and that confidence that we’re better.”
Looking ahead to San Francisco
At this year’s Laver Cup, Fritz will have the chance to learn from Team World’s new Captain, one of his childhood idols. “Andre Agassi is someone that I think a lot of us American guys looked up to for a very long time, and I looked up to when I was a kid, so I’m really excited to get the chance to be on court with him and play under him,” he said.
“I’m very excited to get the chance to pick Andre’s brain. Some people made some jokes that we might not get a lot of practicing done with all the talking that we might be doing, but I’m really excited for the opportunity to be on court and work through that process with him,” he grinned.
Fritz expects rookie Joao Fonseca to easily gel with Team World, which has had dazzling chemistry in prior years. “I think he’s going to come out and compete as hard as he can, and I think he’s going to light it up,” said the American. “I’m really excited to have him on the team … we’re going to get to spend a lot of time together and hopefully he brings all the Brazilian fans to cheer for us.”
Fritz is hunting a career-first win over Alcaraz, and while he’s comfortable with whatever Agassi and Vice Captain Patrick Rafter decide is best for the team, he plans to be proactive. “If I’m feeling like I can come through with a big win on a certain day where we can set the lineup, then I’m going to speak my mind and obviously say that I want it,” he asserted. “It’s exciting to be competing for Team World. We all really want to win it.”
