Europe Successfully Defend Laver Cup Title
You may (or may not) remember the Laver Cup from last year. If not, it is a team tennis event played over 3 days, consisting of a 6 man team from Europe against a 6 man team from the Rest of the World. The competition is played over 3 days, and 4 matches (1 Doubles and 3 Singles) are played each day. On day one, a match win earns the team one point. On day two, a win is worth two points, and on day three the stakes are even higher, with a match win worth 3 points.
Halfway through day two, Europe were 7-1 to the good and the contest looked to be over. This was after wins for Dimitrov, Edmund, Federer, Goffin and Zverev for team Europe, with world’s solitary win coming in the doubles. The task was made even greater for Team World as Kevin Anderson walked out to face Wimbledon and US Open champion Novak Djokovic, a man on red hot form. However Anderson stunned Djokovic in a deciding set championship tiebreak, before Jack Sock and Nick Kyrgios cruised past DImitrov and Goffin in the doubles.
The momentum continued into day 3 for team world, where Jack Sock once again dominated the doubles with the help of John Isner, beating Federer and Zverev in a tight encounter. This meant that after looking totally down and out, Team World were now ahead, and needed to win 2 of the 3 remaining rubbers to win. However Europe were yet to play their trump cards of Federer, Djokovic and Zverev, who were arguably the 3 strongest players in either squad. Federer did what Federer does, beating John Isner 6-7 7-6 10-7. This was followed a 6-7- 7-5 10-7 win for Alex Zverev over Kevin Anderson, giving Team Europe an unassailable 13-8 lead, meaning there was no need for the final Kyrgios vs Djokovic rubber. Just like last year, after a poor start, Team World left themselves far too much to do in the latter stages to claim victory.
“It’s been an unbelievable week. I’m very proud of my team – we knew it was going to be very difficult to beat Team World.” Said Team Europe captain Bjorn Borg.