<\/a> Team USA began its United Cup 2026 campaign in Group A in Perth, drawn alongside Spain and Argentina. The Americans entered the tournament as defending champions, led by Gauff and Fritz, with Christian Harrison anchoring the mixed-doubles pairing.<\/p>\n It was during travel between matches that the now-famous moment occurred. In the airplane cabin, Fritz was filmed dozing off in his seat, head bobbing as he drifted in and out of sleep while watching something on his phone. Dressed casually in a beanie, black T-shirt, and shorts, the ATP star appeared completely unaware that he had become the center of attention.<\/p>\n Gauff, seated beside him, tried to keep a straight face before breaking into silent laughter. The original video was shared<\/a> by fellow American Mackenzie McDonald, who was sitting just behind them and could be heard laughing along.<\/p>\n The clip later made its way onto Tennis Channel\u2019s Instagram page, where Fritz jokingly commented, \u201cCan\u2019t even sleep in peace anymore,\u201d while Gauff added, \u201c3 hours of this \ud83d\ude02.\u201d<\/p>\n In their opening tie against Argentina, the United States was forced to battle from level terms. Fritz was edged out by Sebasti\u00e1n B\u00e1ez in the men\u2019s singles, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Gauff responded in the women\u2019s singles with a straight-sets win over Solana Sierra, 6-1, 6-1, to level the tie at 1-1. The decisive mixed doubles saw Gauff and Harrison hold their nerve, winning in straight sets against Mar\u00eda Lourdes Carl\u00e9 and Guido Andreozzi to secure a 2\u20131 victory for Team USA.<\/p>\n The Americans followed that with another tight encounter against Spain. Gauff suffered a setback in the women\u2019s singles, losing to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in three sets. Fritz then brought the tie back on level footing with a three-set win over Jaume Munar, 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-6(6).<\/p>\n MORE: Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz Turn Perth Beach Into a Tennis Classroom Ahead of United Cup Title Defense<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n For the second straight tie, the outcome rested on mixed doubles, where Gauff and Harrison again delivered, winning against Yvonne Cavall\u00e9 Reimers and \u00cd\u00f1igo Cervantes in straight sets to clinch another 2-1 result and confirm the United States as Group A winners.<\/p>\n In the quarterfinals, Team USA faced Greece and once again needed all three matches to advance. Gauff put the Americans ahead with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Maria Sakkari in the women\u2019s singles. Fritz was then beaten by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the men\u2019s singles, 6-4, 7-5, sending the tie to mixed doubles. Under pressure, Gauff and Harrison prevailed in a tense contest, winning 4-6, 6-4, and then edging the match tiebreak 10-8 to seal a 2-1 quarterfinal win.<\/p>\n Currently, Team USA has advanced to the semifinals of the United Cup, where they will face Group F leaders Poland. The tie will open with Fritz facing Hubert Hurkacz in the men\u2019s singles\u00a0before Gauff takes on Iga \u015awi\u0105tek in the women\u2019s matchup. If needed, the contest will be decided in doubles, with Gauff and Harrison set to play against the Polish pairing of \u015awi\u0105tek and Hurkacz.\n<\/p><\/div>\n \/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js<\/a> Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz are used to cameras following their every move on court, but this time, a lighthearted in-flight moment gave fans a rare off-court glimpse of Team USA\u2019s chemistry during its United Cup title defense. As the Americans surged into the semifinals in Sydney, a short video of Fritz drifting in and … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Coco-Gauff-and-Taylor-Fritz-React-As-Their-Hilarious-In-Flight.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16420,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16418\/revisions\/16420"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz Provide a Rare Off-Court Glimpse During Team USA Flight<\/h2>\n
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![\"Taylor](\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/coco-gauff-taylor-fritz-react-01-10-26-300x193.jpg\")
How Did Team USA Survive Multiple Deciders on the Road to the Semifinals?<\/h2>\n
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