Player Spotlight: Fritz’s fire fuels Team World

Taylor Fritz’s commitment to Team World runs deep. He has been part of five campaigns, including all of Team World’s title runs in London 2022, Vancouver 2023 and last year in San Francisco.

As Fritz’s confidence and self-belief have grown on the ATP circuit, so too have the fortunes of Team World under the captaincy of John McEnroe for the first seven years of competition, and now Andre Agassi, who took over in 2025.

During his pre-tournament press conference in Washington in August, Fritz responded to Agassi’s description of him as “the first sociopath that’s ever played tennis.” When it came to wins or losses, observed Agassi, Fritz had “an impressive short-term memory loss,” echoing Rudyard Kipling’s words above the players’ entrance tunnel at Wimbledon: “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same.”

Fritz, 28, with a well-established presence in the top 10 since October 2022, took Agassi’s comments as a compliment, explaining: “I don’t really let things bother me, especially when I’m on the court. I try to stay very in the moment. Yeah, if something happens, something bad happens, I’ll get upset about it for a second, but then I’ll just move on.

“I try not to just let things affect me when I’m on the court. Especially when I’m playing well, I feel like I’m very, you know, give it a second and then on to the next point.”

“People think when you get upset, that it can affect the next points. I just need to get it out of my system and be, like, that was awful, let’s move on,” he said.

That ability to reset has served Fritz particularly well at Laver Cup, where he has produced some of Team World’s most important wins. As a debutant in 2019 at Palexpo in Geneva, he stepped in to play a high-stakes match on the third day against top 10 Team Europe star Dominic Thiem. Fritz, 21, shocked the Austrian 7-5, 6-7(7), 10-5, putting Team World within striking distance of winning its first title.

At The O2 in 2022, he fought past Cameron Norrie in three sets on Saturday in front of a pro-British home crowd. The victory kept Team World’s hopes alive and contributed to their overall first win in the competition.

Heading into his sixth Laver Cup, Fritz’s singles record stands at 6-2, with his most sensational upset coming in San Francisco on Day 2 last year against a widely favored No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, whom the Californian had not previously beaten in three encounters. He went on to seal the title on Sunday against Alexander Zverev.

“I loved the way Taylor ended it because he closed on that backhand volley,” recalled Agassi. “Taylor sees alligators inside the service line; he’s a little scared to just … I’m like, ‘dude, nothing’s going to bite you man, get up there and close.’ He finished up with that backhand volley, and my first thought was, ‘atta boy.’ My next thought was, ‘holy shit, we just won.’”

Outside of Laver Cup, Fritz has had a challenging year managing knee tendinitis. The injury kept him off the circuit during the clay-court swing, but he made an immediate impact on his return to grass, reaching the finals in Stuttgart and Halle and the Wimbledon quarterfinals. He captured his 11th ATP Tour title at the ATP 500 in Washington, beating teammate Brandon Nakashima in the semifinals and Team Europe’s Rafael Jodar in the final.

Of the upcoming Laver Cup, Fritz has no doubts about the challenge ahead. “I think it’s going to be as tough as ever,” he said.

“It’s always going to come down to a couple of matches. I think we want to keep doing the same thing that we’ve been doing. The last couple of years have been good for Team World. Just going to go out and enjoy it and hopefully bring back another one.”