“That feeling of getting it done with your friends on the team, the energy is amazing” : Taylor Fritz on his motivation to participate in the Laver Cup with teammates who are otherwise rivals
The main part of this year’s tennis season is over, with the prestigious four Grand Slam tournaments concluded. But there a few more tournaments left till the end of the year, and the Laver Cup is one of the most watched ones. Envisioned by Roger Federer, it brings out a new and different team format compared to the rest of the tournaments, and fans are able to watch all their favorrite players in action at the same time. This year’s Laver Cup is being held in Berlin, and starts from September 20.
World no.7 Taylor Fritz will be making his fourth appearance in the Laver Cup. The American has had a wonderful year till now, climbing into the top 10 ATP rankings, after getting runners-up in the US Open, winning bronze in the men’s doubles at the Olympics, and also winning the Delray Beach Open and Eastbourne International.
But despite all these huge accolades, the 26-year-old has revealed that he seems to be enjoying participating in the Laver Cup much more than other tournaments, due to him not competing individually, and that he gets to be in a team which consists of all of his friends.
“Getting the chance to celebrate with the team is always my favorite” : Taylor Fritz
The Laver Cup can be termed as a ‘friendly’ in other sports terms, due to its exciting yet competitive nature where the best players in the world come together as ‘Team Europe’ and ‘Team World’. Due to these factors, it also puts less pressure on the players individually. Taylor Fritz recently cited out some interesting statements as to why he personally loves participating in the tournament.
“Laver Cup is one of the most fun weeks of the year, being in this team environment, playing for Team World, being on the team with all my friends, just having that team energy competing and trying to win something together — that’s something we normally don’t do in tennis,” said the American in a recent interview (via lavercup.com).
“Getting the chance to celebrate with the team is always my favorite, it’s something that you don’t get to do in tennis because it’s individual, you’re only celebrating with your team, you’re not celebrating with the other players so that’s something that’s always so fun for me. I have more fun when I’m around all the guys and we’re hanging out and we’re all rooting for each other. We all want the same thing, you know?” the US Open runner-up added.
Apart from having fun in the tournament, Fritz also said that the team knows its main objective – to win the Laver Cup.
“We all really care about it, I think both teams always want to win, it’s been such a prestigious event. That feeling of getting it done with your friends on the team, the energy is amazing,” said the 26-year-old.
Taylor Fritz will team-up with Frances Tiafoe, Ben Shelton, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Francisco Cerundolo, and Alejandro Tabilo as they go up against the best in Europe led by Carlos Alcaraz this coming weekend.
