San Francisco [US], September 21 : After his undefeated streak of 13 matches was broken at the ongoing Laver Cup, Spanish tennis sensation Carlos Alcaraz admitted that he was not as solid as expected during the match, saying that the pressure was there, but not because he is the number one-ranked player in the world.
The 22-year-old Spanish star's 13-match winning streak, including the US Open triumph, came to an end as he was defeated by Taylor Fritz during the Laver Cup on Saturday night while he was playing for Team Europe. The superstar player committed 19 unforced errors as compared to Team World's Fritz's 10, as per ATP's official website.
Speaking after the match, he said, as quoted by ATP Tour, "It was not the match that I was expecting, but I think I have to look a little bit to him that I think he played great tennis. I just was not as solid as I wanted in the match, and I think these conditions, it is pretty slow. The balls are really big, so I had to be solid. I did not play that match today."
"Taylor played a great match, really solid, playing aggressively when he could. I think everything went to his side, so I had to congratulate him and say that he played a much better game than I did," he added.
Team Europe was trailing 3-5 heading into Alcaraz's clash, but the Spaniard lost 6-3, 6-2. Speaking on if being the world number one for the first time since 2023 was on his mind, Alcaraz said that "ranking is just a number."
"Not really. Today I feel like I had to win the point, because the way that the day is going, with the two losses, I feel like I had to win my match. It was a little bit of extra pressure, because of the way that the day was going on, but it was not because I'm the No. 1 in the world," said Alcaraz.
"I think the ranking is just a number. It should not give you the pressure that you have to win everything and every match. I am there, but you still have to do the things that you were doing before. But with the two losses, I felt a little bit of extra pressure," he concluded.
Fritz's first head-to-head victory over Alcaraz came in his fourth attempt, giving Team World a 7-3 lead before Alex De Minaur and Alex Michelsen extended it to 9-3 with a win over Europe's Casper Ruud and Holger Rune.
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