Davis Cup 2025: Czech Republic stuns United States to advance to Italy
DELRAY BEACH — When the clock struck midnight, the United States DC team died. Stamp it as one of the more bitter losses in recent U.S. Davis Cup history.
Jakub Mensik’s midnight ace gave him a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Frances Tiafoe and delivered the Czech Republic a 3-2 win to punch a ticket to November’s final round in Italy.
Flu-like symptoms of Taylor Fritz and the recent poor form of Tiafoe combined to derail the USA Davis Cup team’s quest of advancing.
With two singles chances to clinch its tie against Czech Republic on Sept. 13th, Fritz and “Big Foe’’ flopped back-to-back at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.
After 10 hours of tennis, a frenetic, red-white-and-blue-clad Delray Beach crowd of 4,300 dwindled to about `1,200 when Tiafoe and 20-year-old Mensik took the court at 10:43 p.m. The fans went silent as Mensik’s last serve finished off Tiafoe in 70 minutes. No cheers, no chants, no beats from the booming band.
The USA team was beset by injuries before the event as Ben Shelton (shoulder) and Tommy Paul (hip) pulled out because of injuries at the U.S. Open. The two still showed up to cheer with captain Bob Bryan saying Paul did so despite undergoing surgery. Paul lives in Boca Raton.
Bryan said he was glad to inject energy into the Delray Beach community for two days, but added “Obviously, it would’ve been better if we got it done. We’re not going to cry over this loss. We give credit to their team. They’ll be dangerous in Bologna. They can win the tournament.’’
Czech Republic captain Tomas Berdych, who had voiced concern about Delray as a venue during hurricane season, was extremely happy with his team’s performance.
“I played Davis Cup for many years but was coming to the States for first time (and) I was surprised what was waiting for us here,” he said. “We beat the very strong U.S. team on its home soil. That’s never happened for us. Whatever was around was around. We didn’t feel that heat. We leave the States as the winner and are the team going to Bologna.’’
Late Saturday night, Tiafoe lost the first three games without winning a single point. Previously, Fritz, the No. 1 American ranked 5th in the world, failed to clinch Bologna trip when he lost to the red-hot 23-year-old Jiri Lehecka, coming off a quarterfinal berth at the U.S. Open.
After dropping the first set, Fritz rallied to force a third, but he couldn’t get over the hump in losing 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Taylor Fritz needed to be 100 percent in humid South-Florida weather
Afterward, Fritz said he needed to be 100 percent fit to be at his best in the humid South-Florida weather.
“The conditions are pretty brutal,’’ said Fritz, who lives in Miami. “I’m going to want to be absolutely in the best physical condition and that’s just not the case. I had to take days off and obviously was hurting with being sick. I fought as hard as I could.’’
The Fritz loss tied the Davis Cup tie at 2, leaving the entire enchilada to Tiafoe, who had been in a bad way after his third-round exit in the Open and losing Friday to Lehecka.
Tiafoe did not come to the press conference afterward.
The veteran doubles tandem of Rajeev Ram-Austin Kracijek prevailed in the afternoon’s doubles match in a marathon three-setter. That triumph gave the Americans a 2-1 edge – but it went for naught.
That doubles match was delayed two-hour plus midway through the second set by lightning and rain as Krajicek-Ram won over Mensik-Tomas Mahack in three sets. The doubles commenced at 2 p.m. and ended after 7 p.m.
Hours later, when Tiafoe won his first point of the match in the fourth game, the crowd erupted in huge cheers but Tiafoe couldn’t combat the firepower of the 20-year-old Mensik, who also had played that doubles match.
“I left everything out there,’’ said Mensik, who won the Miami Open last March.
Bryan said it was a tough day for Tiafoe sitting around the grounds for many hours watching.
Fritz won his initial singles match Friday over Mensik despite saying he was “so, so sick’’ on the eve of the Davis Cup he was worried about whether he’d be ready to compete.
Bryan said Fritz’ performance was “inspiring’’ and he “dug deep.’’
With a chance to replace either Fritz or Tiafoe with Reilly Opelka, the 6-foot-11 serving menace from Boca Raton, Bryan stayed pat.
USA’s title drought is now extended to 18 years as it hasn’t won the Davis Cup since 2007. Czech Republic will be one of eight countries competing in November.
Fritz didn’t finish until 10:20 p.m. Scores of fans started heading to the exit due to the late hour and that they had been on hand since the 2 p.m. start-up.
In the second set, Fritz broke Lehecka right away and shot up 3-0 after fighting off three break points. He closed out the game with two scintillating sliced drop shots Lehecka flailed at. It usually isn’t in Fritz’s arsenal but a sign he needed to save his energy considering his weakened state.
“I was trying to will myself through it is a big reason why I was able to win the second set,’’ Fritz said.
The victory by Ram-Krajicek made good on Bryan’s decision the squad needed two doubles specialist to win the all-important point. Bryan was a doubles-only tour player with his twin brother, Mike, and they were elected into the Hall of Fame this summer.
It was a fiery Delray crowd, chanting “USA … USA’’ across the long match. “I don’t think I’ve come off the court more fired up than that in a really long time,’’ said Krajicek, who is 35.
But at midnight, there was only quiet, except for a couple of dozen cheering Czech fans.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Czech Republic hand US bitter loss in Davis Cup qualifier in Delray Beach
