Ben Shelton apologised to fellow Team World star Taylor Fritz after their Laver Cup doubles win over Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev on Friday. The American duo upset the odds to defeat the players ranked second and third in the world respectively in straight sets.
Four-time Grand Slam winner Alcaraz and two-time major finalist Zverev put up a tough fight by taking the first set to a tiebreak. But once their American opponents took it there was no looking back, as Shelton and Fritz kicked on to win the match 7-6 6-4.
Afterwards, 21-year-old Shelton discussed the benefit of having Fritz – a player five years his senior – by his side amid a raucous atmosphere in Berlin.
“It was intense,” he admitted. “Every time there is a match at the Laver Cup, it feels intense with the team-mates on the sidelines, pretty full stadiums, bigger crowds obviously for a doubles match than what we are used to.
“I think I got pretty used to it with the atmosphere last year at the Laver Cup, playing some doubles matches in bigger moments, even though we were up big in the score. Yeah, Taylor is a Laver Cup veteran, or a vet in general, so I’m not too worried about him being prepared for anything out there.”
Fritz then jumped in with: ” “Vet? I don’t know. I’m not that old.” And Shelton rounded off the light-hearted exchange by saying: “Sorry, bro. That was out of pocket.”
Shelton is the youngest member of John McEnroe’s ranks and making only his second Laver Cup appearance after also turning out in Vancouver last year. Fritz, by comparison, is one of the more experienced members of Team World.
The 26-year-old first competed at the Laver Cup in 2019 and arrived at this tournament off the back of an impressive run to the US Open final, where he was beaten by dominant world No 1 Jannik Sinner.
McEnroe and Co. will hope that Fritz’s form can help them topple Team Europe’s talented group of stars. The overall score was tied up at 2-2 after the opening day as the Europeans dominated in singles.
Francisco Cerundolo was the only Team World competitor to win as he defeated Casper Ruud in straight sets, but Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas came up trumps for Team Europe with victories over Alejandro Tabilo and Thanasi Kokkinakis.
