Roger Federer and Nick Kyrgios take the court in Geneva as the Laver Cup heads into Day 2. Kyrgios will attempt to help Team World claw back from a 3-1 deficit against Team Europe.
Roger Federer enjoys a more comfortable head-to-head against Nick Kyrgios than his fellow Big Three members. Rafael Nadal holds the slightest edge over Kyrgios at 4-3, while Novak Djokovic is a slightly surprising 0-2 against the Australian. Federer has lost to Kyrgios just once in six meetings, back in 2015 in their first-ever contest. Since then, it’s been all Federer, though the Swiss hasn’t always won easily.
Kyrgios has earned himself a reputation for poor on-court behavior, particularly when he matches up with Nadal. But he is vocal in his respect for Federer, and has thus always “behaved” in his matches with the Swiss champion. Expect a subdued Kyrgios to take the court on Saturday and for Federer to take full advantage of Kyrgios’s respect.
Team World’s single match win on Friday came from an unlikely source: Jack Sock, who defeated Fabio Fognini in singles. Sock until Friday afternoon had not won a singles match since the Paris Masters in 2018.
Pick: Federer in 3
WWW?
I’ll go with Fed but it’ll be close.
NK is 0-2 v Djoker because he got him in 2017 when Novak was really struggling to win anything.
Who decides who to play who from each team?
If I’m the one picking the players, I’ll put Sasha to face Kyrgios, Fed to face Isner and Rafa to face Raonic. I mean, both Fed and Rafa have very good chances of beating Isner and Raonic, so there’s four points there. Sasha may lose to anyone from Team World, so to put him to face Kyrgios the toughest from World team may be a better choice, since Fed or Rafa if facing Kyrgios, may also lose so why take the risk?
Fed may not beat Kyrgios now, he’s really not playing that well out there.
Only Rafa dares to give Fed some advices, no one else from Team Europe dares to do that!
Lol!!! They can make an observation, at least!🤣
But those guys below the top 2 can appreciate now what it really takes to be your best and be a champion! It should be a good learning experience for all of them!
Spot on! Was going to say the same. Bjorn is usually quiet but he is almost on mute mode when Roger is playing. ONLY Rafa gets to give him advice and he actually LISTENS.
Laver Cup 2017
Roger Federer: “Knowing you can trust Rafa in big moments, seeing his decision-making, seeing his thought process was very interesting. I will take these memories for a lifetime, for sure.”
Roger appreciates Rafa’s input.
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1175168477440749568
ling // we F19HT 💪🏻
@tweenerwinner
sascha: rafa is probably the one who gives the most energy on the bench. he’s really acting like he’s playing himself and that gives you great confidence…in the important moments you can give him a look…he’s the one who gives you the most on our team
cheerleaderdal 🙌🏻 https://twitter.com/LaverCup/status/1175165912825192448 …
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1175146751738728449
Matthew Willis
@MattRacquet
Zverev: “I had two coaches, one on the court (Federer) and one on the bench (Nadal). It was great, I could just just shut my brain off and listen to what they told me. They are the two greatest ever.”
2,009
9:36 PM – Sep 20, 2019
Read & Watch: Federer Uses Nadal Coaching To Defeat Kyrgios At Laver Cup
Roger Federer utilised sound advice from his longest rival on Tour to prevail over a more recent adversary on Saturday at Laver Cup. With Rafael Nadal providing sound strategy from the bench, the Swiss rallied to defeat Nick Kyrgios 6-7(5), 7-5, 10-7 and give Team Europe a 5-3 lead over Team World.
All of Saturday’s matches are worth two points, compared to Friday’s matches that were worth one point. Federer is 3-0 against Kyrgios in Laver Cup play and now leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 6-1.
“I was hoping it was going to be like this. It was amazing,” Federer said. “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!”
Both men traded early service breaks in the first set and eventually forced a tie-break. Federer sprinted to a 4/0 lead, but began to get tight and leak unforced errors. Kyrgios responded by going on a four-point run and won the last three points of the tie-break to take a commanding lead.
Although the Swiss continued to hold serve comfortably, he was unable to make inroads in most of the baseline rallies. His teammates had been silent throughout the match, but Nadal took the reigns and offered statistics with Federer serving to stay in the match at 4-5 in the second set.
”After five shots [in the rally], you are winning more [points] than him,” Nadal said. “I know it’s difficult because he reads the ball so well… Wait for the right one and then attack because he’s not missing.”
The plan worked to perfection as Kyrgios coughed up a pair of unforced errors to hand Federer a break at 5-5. At the next changeover, Nadal urged Federer to add more spin to his serve and hit higher balls to disrupt the Aussie’s rhythm. The strategy produced a comfortable service hold to force a Match Tie-break.
Federer saved his best tennis for when it mattered most. A leaping backhand volley winner gave him a 3/2 mini-break advantage as Kyrgios began to tighten up on his backhand, leading him to take short swings at the ball that allowed the Swiss to pounce. Federer took a 9/4 lead in the Match Tie-break and a forehand sent wide from Kyrgios three points later wrapped up play after one hour and 51 minutes.
https://www.atptour.com/en/news/federer-kyrgios-isner-zverev-laver-cup-2019-saturday
We all know that Rafa’s tennis IQ is well above average. And he has probably noticed that Kyrgios’ relatively short attention span makes him vulnerable in longer rallyes, since he often tries to end them prematurely. I think that Kyrgios won’t be happy that the advise came from Rafa😉
That said – Kyrgios has behaved well so far and obviously tried to give his best in the match. Maybe, a relaxed team setting where he doesn’t just play for himself and with some social control is beneficial for him in many ways. I’m sure that tanking a match or causing a row with the umpire with some obscene remarks thrown in for good measure doesn’t even enter his mind in this setting.
What happened to his looming suspension btw? Shouldn’t it have been implemented right after the USO? Didn’t the guy in whose name the current event was created, recommend strongly that Kyrgios should get a suspension? Since LC is now an official ATP event and Kyrgios is still playing as if nothing had happened, it seems to be a little too late to suspend him now.
Here we go again, every service game of Rafa is a torture. He’s not getting in his first serve, what’s the problem with him??
Rafa holding serve with so much hard work whilst Raonic holds serve easily with his huge serves!
Rafa is soaking wet; Fed too in the earlier match. It seems like this arena doesn’t have good air conditioning.
Rafa has BPs and then converts! Well done! Now please hold and wins the set!
Rafa takes the 1st set 63.
Rafa shouldn’t be playing out there, he’s clearly not playing well. His serve is really not up to the mark, and out of the blue he lost his serve after having difficulty despite all the chances breaking Raonic’s serve.
Raonic is one boring player, I find him even more boring than Isner. There’s not much excitement in this match, as points are usually so short.
The Fed/Kyrgios match was much more exciting, as Kyrgios has more than a big serve.
I’m also not overly fond of Raonic. His game is boring to watch, and while he be a very nice guy privately, his personality is also a bit bland.
The big servers are often not very good returners and rallyers. I think the reason is, that these skills are somewhat neglected, since their game is focussed so much on their serve and the points are mostly short. And if they don’t manage to break, there’s always the tiebreak. And in a format like Laver Cup with a deciding tiebreak instead of a proper third set the big servers should’ve an advantage.
I find it interesting, though, that contrary to common perception Rafa has a very record against the big servers.
Yes finally, Rafa wins in straight sets and avoids a third set TB.
Petchey has just interviewed Rafa and thanked him for turning up at all because he has issues with his wrist and praising him for supporting the LC despite being 100% match fit.
Despite NOT being 100% match fit.
During one of the breaks in the 1st set, Rafa told his team that he has no power in his serve; obviously because of his wrist not being 100%.
Rafael Nadal talks about wrist injury in Geneva
Rafael Nadal was courtside with his team-mates watching the opening day’s play on Friday. The cameras caught our champ with strapping around his left wrist and covering his thumb.
After he was asked about the strapping, he revealed he had an issue but was hopeful of still taking part:
Let’s see tomorrow how things go.
After New York, the body always feels down a little bit. Some issues can happen but here I am. I’m trying hard to be ready for when the team need me.
Let’s see. All of the matches are very difficult. If I am not at 100 per cent, there is another player. But I am confident I can help.
If Rafa won’t able to play, he will be replaced by his compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut.
https://rafaelnadalfans.com/2019/09/21/rafael-nadal-talks-about-wrist-injury-in-geneva/
This is really ridiculous: the two old battle horses Roger and Rafa aren’t even at 100%, and Rafa is playing on his least favorite surface – indoor hardcourt – with a compromised serve, but the younger generation is still not able to win against them! When will they ever?
And both Fed and Rafa have to ‘carry’ their respective doubles partner in their doubles matches.
The Sock/Kyrgios combination imo is stronger than the Sock/Shapo one; and Sasha despite not being a great doubles player himself, is still a bit better than Tsitsipas.
Team Europe still has plenty of work to do on Sunday, hopefully Fedal doubles can do some magic to beat Sock/Isner(most likely) combo.
I feel Fed and Rafa playing well in their respective doubles this time compared to 2017, so I guess they have good chances of beating Sock/Isner.