Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are shouldering the load for Team Europe at the Laver Cup.
What’s new?
Nothing is new, and neither is the Europeans finding themselves in control of this annual team competition. Federer and Nadal won a singles matches for the home team’s only points on Saturday, leaving it with a two-point lead over Team World heading into finale Sunday.
The visitors started the day in victorious fashion, as John Isner edged Alexander Zverev 6-7(2), 6-4, 10-1.
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“I wasn’t making any inroads on his serve and he was the better player for 85 percent of the match,” Isner admitted. “Once I got up 5-4, I had a lot of momentum and that showed in the match tiebreak. Maybe we’re turning the tables. Team World is in this and we’re here to win it.”
Isner’s underdog squad will need a huge effort on Sunday in order to win it–taking at least three of the four matches, to be exact. That’s because Federer and Nadal won the next two singles matches on Saturday.
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Federer overcome Nick Kyrgios 6-7(5), 7-5, 10-7, while Nadal got the best of Milos Raonic 6-3, 7-6(1).
“I was hoping it was going to be like this,” Federer commented. “It was amazing. It was tough to lose that first set. I needed to get some energy, so I was just trying to stay with Nick because if you can turn it around, you can get the crowd behind you. I need some earplugs for the next match.”
The next match saw Nadal face break points in each of his first three service games. The reigning French Open and U.S. Open champion saved all of them and eventually earned two breaks of his own to run away with the opening set. One break for each man led to a tiebreaker in the second, which Nadal won in routine fashion.
“Being here for me is a very positive energy,” Nadal said. “I like being around such a great team and the crowd is amazing…. I feel very lucky [to have won] the first set. I started to play better later in the match and I think I played a very good tiebreak in the end.”
Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas lost the doubles nightcap to Kyrgios and Jack Sock 6-4, 3-6, 10-6. Thus the score is 7-5 Europe, meaning Team World must win three matches on Sunday to lift the cup for the first time in three tries. If Nadal and Tsitsipas had won the doubles, Team World would have to win three matches on Sunday just to tie and force a decisive doubles tiebreaker.
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Europe got this
Will this be like 2017, when Fedal won their doubles, then Rafa lost to Isner (lost to Kyrgios now) and Fed helped Team Europe won the Cup by beating Kyrgios (now Isner)?
Fed always the hero while Rafa has to lose one singles to some big serving/hard hitting guy(s).
Probably. Court favors Fed, location favors Fed, format favors Fed. What did you expect? That Fed would put Laver Cup on clay in Monte Carlo in a full Bo3 format?
Who’s talking about clay??
I thought Sasha may play the first single, before Fed or Rafa, maybe they really don’t have much confidence in Sasha.
Why ever not? (looks innocent)
Lucky and Ramara, wait a minute – are you implying that LC is scripted in order to offer a tight and more interesting contest?? While the format is certainly favoring Fed – and all other big servers – I really don’t think that the matches themselves are staged. I don’t think the players would agree to participate if that would be the case.
No, not that it’s prearranged who would win. I mean the arrangement is such that Fed always has the chance to save the team. Perhaps, it’s quick HC so Fed has better chance of winning his matches compared to Rafa.
I was thinking, if they put Sasha first after the Fedal doubles, perhaps Team World may pitch Kyrgios vs Sasha, to more or less secure a win for Team World. Rafa may then face Isner in the second match, and I feel Rafa’s chances > vs Isner than Kyrgios. And if Fed is to play last vs Raonic, Fed will have good chances to beat Raonic to win the title.
Or better, put Fed second vs Raonic, and he should be able to win, and then Rafa last vs Isner.
I feel Kyrgios has better chances than Raonic to beat Sasha, so Team World may put Kyrgios vs Sasha if Sasha is to play the first singles, in case Team World loses the doubles.
Well, It’s certainly possible that the pairings and the timing is arranged in a way which makes it possible that Fed will contribute the last points for the team. And if it’s a tight contest, this means of course that he may win the final match which seals the deal😉 Since LC is in Switzerland this year, that would certainly please the majority of the audience. I have no big problems with that, since it’s basically a show event, even if the matches themselves are not fixed. I’m actually fairly sure that especially the young guns fight thooth and nails for the win. For them it’s a great opportunity to learn a lot and get some public reckognition. A good showing increases their market value.
True lucky. Fedal may not win doubles…if that’s case Europe may lose this as Rafa may lose to kyrgios on an indoor court
Why the heck is Rafa cramming so much tennis into two days after his exhausting season and the us open. An injury or a tweak here or there is not only going to hurt his chances at no. 1 this year but more importantly jeopardize his chances for next year…. keeps making the same mistakes year after year.. bemoans playing on hc and then plays four matches there for a tournament which has no returns in terms of points or honor or legacy🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
This is exactly what I have been saying since. Nadal never listens. Keeps making the same mistakes over and over and over again. He has a left wrist injury or whatever and he is still playing nonstop. Unbelievable. If he gets injured again seriously, he has only himself to blame as usual.
And i of coz agree with vmk1 & Happy wholeheartedly…
He may skip Shanghai to have a long break and gets married. I don’t think playing two singles and two doubles matches are that stressful, if after that he can have a long break.
I doubt he’s repeating the same mistake as 2017 where he played Beijing/Shanghai B2B one week after Laver Cup. I guess that may be why he chooses to play LC.
I just checked the ATP website, apparently Rafa is not playing any matches on Sunday.
His doubles with Fed is replaced by Tsitsipas and his match vs Kyrgios replaced by Thiem.
I wonder what happened to Rafa.
Some inflammation of the wrist I read so he has to stop, wise decision. I think he’s not playing at Shanghai.
Sorry Luckystar, there’s nothing wise about that. He should have never played LC in the first place. Now he has inflammation of the wrist which wouldn’t have happened had he not decided to even come for LC. Very stupid decision.
And i once again very agree with happy…
I’m just so furious with Rafa now .inflammation they say…why did Rafa even do this..I mean this exhibition more imp than your health ..you are just surrendering your ye no 1 n next year ao .
I am just mad now
He did not play with any protection yesterday..which was surprising…but he was playing ok..
Rafa in interview said he played with infiltration yest n it’s not the wrist but the hand …he said it’s nothing new n he keeps feeling it at times..
Rafa..you better not surrender the no 1..I’ll be really furious
Not the wrist. It is inflammation of the hand. Nothing really serious and will go away with rest
I understand why Rafa played LC. He’s given us some precious moments this weekend!
Rafa is WAY more careful now. What are you guys talking about?! Unless he is 100%, he won’t play Shanghai.
Agreed VR.
Rafa knows what he’s doing. He really loves playing the LC, he just loves such team events, so just let him enjoys such moments.
We can see that he’s happy and cheerful about this whole thing, not worrying so much about his own hand/wrist injury. I don’t think it’s serious.
BTW, I think Kyrgios plays better than Isner in the doubles as he moves better and has better strokes. I think Fed/Tsitsipas can win this match.
Agreed! I am sure he has a right to enjoy these moments and not do what his fans want. I think he loves LC and his relationship with Roger Federer is also special and he wanted to stay true to his committment.
I do think so much Fedal coaching has made Tsitsipas smarter in doubles. He is returning better today and showing better presence. He was a bit of a mess yesterday and put less than 50% serves back into play. The guy is very talented but he lacks the doubles experience.
There you go! Team EUR takes set 1! Bravo Roger and Stefanos. And don’t forget the help from Rafa’s nonstop coaching lol.
Have you guys noticed how aligned Rafa and Roger’s ideas/solutions are?! And how much Roger listens to Rafa? He is literally asking questions from Rafa at times! Shows you how much these two respect each other. These changeover exchanges are GOLD
VR, I totally agree with you!
Yes, Rafa said ‘hand’ and he knows the difference, even in English! Thanks for the words of wisdom. Rafa and Roger have always known the difference between ‘rivalry’ and ‘enmity’ and share a strong interest in “what’s good for tennis” as opposed to what’s good for players or tournament owners or the ITF or ATP or TV. Tennis is bigger than all of them.
Come on Team Europe!
N what horrible scheduling .everyone wanted to see fedal together..n they made Rafa play 2 yesterday ..n robbed entire universe of watching fedal together
Oh Shoot!! Really wanted to watch Fedal play doubles, absolutely beauty! Ying and yeng, lol!!!
Its good Rafa is there for LC, he brings tons of energy to the thing! He coaches, he celebrates, he is good at pumping up his team. If Rafa and Fed were there while Zverev was playing yesterday he would have won that match against Isner!
Rafa was never going to play Shanghai anyway isn’t it..it was just Paris n wtf
I want the ye no 1 please
Please, Sanju, don’t be so obsessed with the No1 ranking!
Rafa has every right to decide for himself if that is an important goal for him or not. If he values LC more than his ranking- good for him! Besides, he has good doctors who can tell him exactly if LC will make the inflammation worse or if it doesn’t really matter in the long run. He will have a good long break now, will get married – and then we will see if the No1 ranking is still on his bucket list or not. Personally I think that it is far more important that he has fun playing tennis ans is healthy for the next season, when he can fight for No 20😊 And if LC means having fun – so be it!
5 ye no 1 for all 3 is a big thing. Not sure why you all think it’s not. It’s a very important metric n stat.
Gosh, Team Europe really misses Rafa. Tsitsipas clearly the weak link here in the doubles. Hope Fed can carry it till the end to win this tight doubles match, if not Team Europe will be in deep troubles.
Rafael Nadal has reinforced his thoughts about not “wasting time” chasing Novak Djokovic’ No 1 ranking.
By MIKAEL MCKENZIE
PUBLISHED: 10:52, Wed, Sep 11, 2019 | UPDATED: 16:21, Wed, Sep 11, 2019
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/1176569/Rafael-Nadal-Novak-Djokovic-US-Open-title-world-No-1
Wow!! World leading Europe!!! This is a very interesting and competitive LC!!! VAMOS, Team Europe!!
Nadal has no business playing LC AFTER THAT GRUELING FINAL THAT LEFT HIM WITH CRAMPS THAT HE COULDNT EVEN PUT HIS PANTS.
Can’t believe some people are defending his horrible decision. Nobody is telling Rafa what to do but as a fan you can show concern for silly decisions. He has inflammation in his hand bc of playing LC and you guys are defending this? I give up.
Playing a useless pointless tournament to appease Federer and fans at the expense of ur health n fitness is not logical period.
We should just agree to disagree. Why isn’t he playing the two matches today. He should just play again since it’s a wonderful decision to play LC.
Ps I don’t care about the number 1 ranking either. Health is important that’s it.
Well I certainly hope that this does not end up being a serious injury. Nothing is worth damaging Rafa’s health. I know he likes playing LC, but at this point in his career he needs to think about health first.
Rafa needing an infiltration yesterday to play, is not a good thing. Neither LC or number one is worth Rafa risking his health. For once I want Rafa to be ready for the 2020 AO. Does anyone think it’s worth it if he is not ready for it?
I was worried about something happening to Rafa after that USO final. He can’t play five hour slam finals anymore. All I know is that the 2020 AO is the most important thing.
Happy, I fully agree with you re: your last statement: health is the most important thing to consider. But Rafa surely knows this, too😉 I cannot imagine that he would’ve even shown up for LC if there was any danger to aggravate an already existing injury. So, let’s hope that Rafa and his team knew what they were doing.
Kyrgios also our so that opens up for Team World. Thiem vs Fritz the first singles so Team Europe has good chances of winning this. The momentum now goes back to Team Europe I feel.
I mean that opens out for Team Europe.
Thiem is playing too defensively.
Thiem still very much a clay court player despite having a good enough serve. He’s clearly not in the league of Rafa, who successfully conquers the other non clay surfaces.
Let’s see will he be something like a Ferrer, who can play well on the HCs too despite being a clay courter.
Team World, despite their rankings, could still make a match out of almost all their matches played so far, perhaps Team events bring out the best from them, punching above their weight.
If Thiem loses this match, Fed and Sasha really have all the pressure on them to win their matches! Without Rafa, things seem to get quite complicated for Team Europe (I strongly feel that Fedal would win the doubles had they played against Sock/Isner).
PS. What’s going on with Kyrgios? Shoulder issue? Seeing Rafa is not playing so he is also not going to play?
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/1181203/Roger-Federer-Laver-Cup-John-McEnroe-Rafael-Nadal-Nick-Kygrios-injury
There is a lot of going on behind the scenes in laver sup.
This LC sure is a bit chaotic today! I don’t quite understand what the article tries to say. What exactly is Johnny Mac complaining about? Team World’s chances have gone up considerably because of Rafa’s withdrawal. And since Thiem lost, they only need one more win!
Heh. It’ll probably come down to Zverev v Raonic. What a laugh!
I’m having trouble believing that NK is actually “injured”. I think he got “injured” in his “motivation” once Rafa pulled out. NK really, really wanted to pick up an easy win over Rafa under conditions that benefit NK.
Johnny Mac was bitching mostly because it’s what he does best. He was happy enough until HIS player pulled out. Having two players pull out on the final day just wasn’t something the rules foresaw so you play by the agreed on rules. Case closed.
Fed breaks Isner. Woohoo! Go Fed!! I’m American but the only player on TW I have any use for is Shapo so I’m still rooting for TE. Otoh, it would probably be a good thing for LC if TW wins for a change. I think Fedal will live with the disappointment.
I was actually rooting for Team World from a certain point onwards, because they were the absolute underdogs, and it would be good for LC if Team World would pick up a trophy, too, once in a while. If you look beyond the Big Three, most of the promising young guns are from Europe. It looks like Team World will have a disadvantage for quite a while, although it will be less lopsided without the Big Three.
Fed n Rafa told Sasha the last match can turn your season around..wow..it was a pressure situation n Sasha needs to take it from here ahead..
The best part of the cup was undoubtedly Rafa n Rogers camaraderie n the changeovers coaching
Yes Sasha good boy! Hes just so calm and ready for the challenge and he does it for Team Europe!
Well done!
And well done Team Europe! Rafa will be very very happy!
Sasha speaks well during his on court interview after the match, I feel he has shown a level of maturity and confidence that Tsitsipas hasn’t reached yet. I hope Sasha’s career turn around for the better after this LC.
I understand that Fedal were giving Sasha some pep talk in the locker room just before Sasha’s third set TB; no wonder Sasha looked so calm and ready. I love Rafa telling Sasha “no one negative face”! Priceless! And Sasha won the third set TB to win it for Team Europe!.
I love Thiem, his actions are just so sweet and cute, such a nice guy. I like the Team Europe guys!
Tsitsipas (and Fritz) will learn a lot from this event, I think Thiem and Sasha love this event after participating twice or thrice now.
Congrats to Team Europe.
Congratulations to Team Europe! Sascha Zverev really came through in that third set super TB! Nice to see him get rid of the demons and win this for his team. Fed and Rafa were great coaches on the sidelines, encouraging Zverev. Great advice from them about this match turning it around for him.
Happy for the team, happy for Zverev. The celebration was great!
Rafa was really happy! Take care of that hand! Relax and get married! ❤️
TBH it seems very fake to me, over the top, everyone getting so excited…I can’t get my head around it
it is fake. You bet they wont Dedal give out any secrets. All the drama is hyped up . But its a business at the end of the day.
I agree that the excitement and cheering and coaching may be over-the-top – especially as far as the “old guns” are concerned. I simply cannot imagine that winning this trophy means all that much to them, although they certainly seem to have fun. But at the end of the day it’s still just an exhibition, and they sell their product well 😉
However, I do believe that the younger players are truly excited and enjoy to be together with the more experienced players. And as far as I could see from the highlights, everybody really tried to win. The overall contest was very competitive.
I wonder how this event will age. Will it become more prestigeous overtime? Will it really develop into the Ryder Cup of tennis? Or will it fade away as soon as the Big Three have retired from active tennis?
Atm the main selling point of LC is observing the interactions of Fedal up close and the hope to see them team up as doubles partners. Unfortunately this only ever happened in 2017, and there won’t be many more years left in their active career for teaming up once more. Personally I think that the popularity of LC will go into a steep nose dive as soon as Fedal is history. Even Novak has not quite the same star power in most countries, although he clearly deserves more reckognition and respect. But it’s not possible to force something as emotional as fan adoration.
But all this may well be true Not just for LC but for tennis in general, since atm there aren’t any big young stars who will be able to draw in the more casual tennis fans. My hope is that some of the young guns will be able to develop more appeal and charisma when they finally can step out of the shadow of the Big Three.
Kyrgios the villain? Medvedev the witty bad guy? Tsitsipas the elegant Fed like player? FAA and Shapo the aggressive and athletic players? And Sasha now the LC hero for Team Europe?
I think let them start with their home events, I’m sure for Shapo and FAA for examples, they’re popular at the Canadian masters. I think as these young guns rise in the rankings, they’ll attract attention especially at their home events.
Medvedev won the St Petersburg title on Sunday with the whole arena cheering for him. I think after his USO heroics, he’s getting lots of attention back home.
We can’t compare them to Fedal, but they too attract attention from tennis fans. With so many promising next gen guys each having their own followers though admittedly not as huge as Fedal’s, I feel tennis should be in good hands after Fedal and Djoko retire.
We may not see huge hard core fanbase the likes of Fedal’s again, for only Fedal have such charisma to attract such huge loyal followings and for so long.
The fanbase may then be more diversified and spread out among the various players.
Well done Team Europe, now go get married and rest now Rafa 🙂
All true, and I will certainly not stop watching and caring for tennis. And we witnessed this year the development of a few interesting story lines. The incredible streak of Medvedev is the most prominent one.
There won’t be anything as popular as Fedal or the narrative of the Big Three’s hunt for the GOAT. But the Big Three are a once-in-lifetime occurence. The younger players have to write their own history. Btw, even Fed and Novak needed a certain amount of time before they developed into unique characters. Only Rafa started right aways with a bang and confirmed that there was plenty of substance behind the early hype. This is even rarer. Only John McEnroe, Bjørn Borg, Boris Becker and to a certain degree Pete Sampras annonced themselves so early, although none of them managed to last as long as the Big Three.