SEPT 19 - 21, 2025 | SAN FRANCISCO
Team World’s Alex Michelsen parlayed his role as Laver Cup rookie into prominent team member and doubles specialist. But he wasn’t the only rookie making his mark while soaking up the environment of Laver Cup 2025 San Francisco.
Team World rookie teammate Joao Fonseca joined Michelsen, while Team Europe’s rookie players Holger Rune, Jakub Mensik and Flavio Cobolli, who served as an alternate in Berlin in 2024, rounded out the rookie class of 2025.
“It was a lot of fun, and I can’t wait for the next one,” said Rune, who featured in two matches in San Francisco, a singles and doubles with Casper Ruud. “I am very excited to be here. It’s an amazing event and to be around the team is really cool. It is a lot of fun.”
Cobolli, who played one singles on Friday, hopes coming back is part of his future, too. “I was really happy to have the chance to play in this fantastic competition,” he said. “I really love it. I looked forward to playing here for many months and it is great to be with the team. In the future, I would love to come back.”
Every rookie had a role, but none was bigger than Michelsen, who ended up playing one singles match on Friday and then the doubles on all three days. He went 1-3 overall with his lone win coming on Saturday next to Australia’s Alex de Minaur.
De Minaur lauded the effort. “Michel[sen] has been unbelievable,” he said. “Every match he has stepped out and it’s a very big stage, and he has gone out there and had a swing. To be put in that position where, ultimately, we are saying he’s the double specialist on the team, there is a lot of pressure on him every time.”
Michelsen said being part of the team—especially getting to debut in his own state—had been incredible. “I think just having some of your peers just yelling for you, you know, for hours on end … I think that’s a really big thing. At least for me.”
“You’re playing for more than yourself,” he said. “That’s another big thing.”
Being part of the team was a new experience for many of the players. Fonseca, who won Team World’s treasured first point on Friday night, said it was a pleasure being with the guys, and mostly listening and watching from his elders. “Taking everything I can as an opportunity to learn,” he said.
Fonseca said he found it “crazy” that at Laver Cup he was talking tennis with players typically on the other side of the net. “They were talking their weakness,” he said. “It’s different, because in the tennis world we are, like, opponents, and then now we are teams, teammates. This environment is super good, because they trust you on helping, and I trust them on helping.”
As with all the players, Fonseca said he was able to soak up the coaching of his captain, Andre Agassi, and heeded his encouragement to play aggressive and get to the net. “Let him, like, suffocate, you know?” he said about the advice Agassi gave him.
The bright lights of the Chase Center put each player in front of 17,000. “It’s crazy,” Fonseca said. “It’s literally a show. You know, it’s a great vibe. Being with the team, it’s unbelievable. Tennis is an individual game and being there with the team off court and on court, it just an unbelievable experience.”
For one rookie, this is far from his first Laver Cup experience. Mensik still remembers attending Laver Cup’s inaugural event in Prague in 2017 as a young boy. “I was there with my family,” he said. “I was there as a visitor, as a spectator. We were young. At the time, if someone told me that in a few years I would be part of the team and be helping the team … I’m super happy, super happy to be part of the team. This event is so unique and so special. Being the part of the best players in the Europe, it’s just a great feeling.”
He played a much larger role in 2025 than he did as a spectator in 2017, going 2-1 for Team Europe as the rookie with the most wins in the event and second-most rookie matches.
Cobolli left San Francisco with many memories, but perhaps none so precious as the backing he received on court.
“I hear during my match Roger [Federer] cheering for me. I heard his voice, I knew that voice, you can imagine,” he said. “I really appreciated that. I called everyone in my contact numbers to say that because it was incredible to listen to his voice during my match.”
For the players—rookie or otherwise—it’s the voices around them that matter, from rivals turned teammates to legendary captains to the event’s co-founder and tennis great Roger Federer.
