American Davis Cup team captain Bob Bryan gave credit where credit was due after his team's shock Davis Cup exit as he "tipped his hat" to the Czech Republic and admitted they were the better team.
Going into the United States and Czech Republic qualifiers tie, the home side was regarded as the clear favorite to win despite Ben Shelton's absence. While Frances Tiafoe lost the opening match for the home side, top-ranked American male tennis player Fritz got it back to square one after beating Jakub Mensik and the American team also took a 2-1 lead after Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram beat Mensik and Tomas Machac.
Just when it seemed that the home side had all the momentum on their side, world No. 5 Fritz got upset by Jiri Lehecka in the fourth rubber. And after Tiafoe lost to Mensik in the deciding match, the American team's team hope of reaching the Davis Cup Final 8 and winning their first title in the competition since 2007 ended.
Bryan: We just tip our hat to a better team
“We just tip our hat to a better team over the last two days,” Bryan said after the United States saw their 2025 Davis Cup campaign end in the qualifiers, via tennis.com.
Tiafoe has a poor Davis Cup record. And after the world No. 29 lost to Lehecka in the opening match, some argued that Bryan should have inserted Reilly Opelka for the deciding fifth match. The American captain understood why some thought that way but also defended his decision.
“Reilly has been here practicing for seven or eight days. He’s not a bad option. But I didn’t think Frances was hitting the ball poorly tonight. He went up against someone who was seeing it very big … I don’t think Frances is in a bad spot," Bryan said.
When the United States won its 32nd title in the competition 18 years ago, current captain Bryan was a part of the team.
