Over the course of one week in his home state of California, things seem to have fallen in place for Taylor Fritz, after years of near misses. He has gone on to become America’s biggest hope in men’s tennis, and while he’s been good at the Slams, he hasn’t quite yet reached the greatness of America’s past tennis legends. But could that be changing? This week Fritz played a crucial role for Team World at the Laver Cup, helping them lift the title. Fritz won both his singles matches against the World No. 1 and 3, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, comfortably in straight sets. Naturally, it called for celebration as he won the decisive match against Zverev to seal the tie. But following his win, Fritz had an interesting revelation about his younger teammate, Joao Fonseca.

Like Fritz, Fonseca was also on top of his game at the Laver Cup. In the only match he played in the tournament, Fonseca defeated Flavio Cobolli in straight sets. But if you thought the members of Team World would be celebrating together, think again. Because after their victory, Fritz, playfully ribbed at the 19-year-old, but more importantly, underage, Brazilian sensation.

After Fritz notched up a win over Zverev, he was asked about how he’ll celebrate winning the Laver Cup. Although Fonseca was just 19, Fritz went ahead with his plans by saying that he and his teammates would enjoy champagne in the locker room but would have to keep that away from Fonseca. He said, “We’re going to have a fun night hopefully. Definitely popping some champagne in the locker room in a couple minutes… I don’t think Joao’s 21 yet, but…”

Nonetheless, Fritz was all praise of Fonseca and the rest of his teammates for putting up a great show in the 3-day event. “Just the energy from the team, it feels…the moments of winning feel so much better and the moments of losing feel so much worse because you’re doing it for all these guys. So, it fires me up so much. I’ve always felt like I play my best tennis in these team environments,” Fritz said, as he soaked in the sweet success of the victory.

On the other hand, there were contrasting emotions in the Team Europe squad. Carlos Alcaraz, in particular, was annoyed at himself after his straightforward loss to Fritz.

What did Carlos Alcaraz say after his loss to Taylor Fritz?

After clinching the US Open, the Spaniard was rearing to go at the Laver Cup. Moreover, Team Europe had high hopes for him, especially in singles. However, Alcaraz failed to live up to the ‘favorite’ tag and surprisingly lost his singles tie against Taylor Fritz—a player he had a 3-0 H2H record over heading into the match.

Although Alcaraz managed a win over Francisco Cerundolo, his clash against Fritz mattered the most, which he lost. As a result, he was disappointed and expressed his frustration during an interview.

Alcaraz revealed, “Well, I mean, I think in conditions like this, you need more time on court. 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.”

Nonetheless, Alcaraz has a chance to bounce back in the Asian Swing, with his first assignment there being the Japan Open. With the Spaniard proving his worth on the hard courts, it won’t be a surprise to see him win a bulk of the upcoming tournaments, which will all be played on the hard courts.