3 Takeaways From Taylor Fritz And Elena Rybakina’s Win At The Eisenhower Cup

The Eisenhower Cup mixed doubles exhibition at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells is one of the best tennis events of the year.  With four teams playing tiebreak tens, fans are treated to seeing the best players of the world in a two hour time slot.  Here are three takeaways from this year’s edition of the Eisenhower Cup which crowned a new pair of champions, Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz.

FRIBAKINA 🏆

Elena Rybakina & @Taylor_Fritz97 are your 2025 Eisenhower Cup champions!@tiebreaktens | #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/F1fr62wnMG

— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 5, 2025

1. Taylor Fritz Is An Underrated Doubles Player

Taylor Fritz is known for his singles successes, but he is an excellent doubles player.  He won the Eisenhower Cup in 2023 with Aryna Sabalenka.  Fritz won Olympic bronze with Tommy Paul in Paris, and he won the United Cup playing doubles with Coco Gauff.  Fritz’s win with Rybakina is yet another reminder of how good he is in doubles.

2. Elena Rybakina Is Fun To Watch

Rybakina was at ease with Fritz. They made a great team.  One somewhat awkward moment came with an on-court interview with Tennis Channel’s Coco Vandeweghe.  Vandeweghe was outspoken about the situation with Rybakina’s former coach, Stefano Vukov.  She was encouraging Rybakina to be a boss on the court, and it was an odd interaction between the two who do not seem to know each other very well despite Vandeweghe’s publicized opinions about Vukov who is currently serving a one-year suspension.

Rybakina & Fritz on beating Anisimova & Medvedev at Eisenhower Cup

Elena: “I think Taylor is very experienced. He won it already once. I was feeling confident. We both play aggressive so it was fun.”

Taylor: “I’m really happy with that. I feel like I didn’t do too much. That… pic.twitter.com/e9rSIpwnzk

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) March 5, 2025

3. Casper Ruud And Daniil Medvedev Are Good Tennis Analysts

Ruud and Medvedev are at ease behind the microphone.  Both did a good job of injecting entertaining personal tidbits in between excellent assessments of the male players they were watching.

Each has a dry sense of humor, something I did not expect from Ruud.

If the players are willing, it is an event that should happen at other tournaments.  Otherwise, we have to wait 364 days until the 2026 Eisenhower Cup.