Laver Cup: Dominic Thiem loses to Fritz - and Team World is angry
Dominic Thiem missed taking back leadership for Team Europe. With the victory of Taylor Fritz, the world selection now leads 11: 7.
by Florian Goosmann from Geneva
last edit: Sep 22, 2019, 04:46 pm
Rafael Nadal's withdrawal - not just a bitter moment for the fans. Team World team boss John McEnroe was not amused because of the situation.
Instead of the injured Nick Kyrgios, Taylor Fritz now competed against Dominic Thiem, and if it had been for McEnroe, he would have positioned the entire team differently in the new situation. Because: On Sunday, Team World actually had the advantage of knowing the players of Team Europe in advance - and countering them accordingly.
Shapovalov had already played against Thiem, so Milos Raonic would have been a welcome choice for McEnroe, who has a 2-1 record against Thiem. However, Raonic was already set up for a possibly third individual against Alexander Zverev. And no longer allowed to swap. There was also the accusation that Team Europe might already have known of a Nadal withdrawal on Saturday evening, because Thiem warmed up very early on Sunday morning ...
Thiem doesn't take chances
In the end, Taylor Fritz had to do it, who had lost both previous matches against Thiem.
Thiem had a breakball this morning too - but everything stayed in order until the end of the set. At 5: 5 the Lichtenwörther finally came to a 0:40, but pulled three times with the backhand. That should take revenge: Thiem could still equalize a 15:40, but Fritz made the break in follow-up. Reward: winning the set - and cheering with teammate Nick Kyrgios.
Fritz remained well in run two, he fought off a breakball for Thiem; in the 1-1 draw Thiem countered an opportunity to lead for the American himself via ace. The subsequent game win he celebrated vigorously. In the tie-break Thiem finally played big, with a forehand winner he sealed the sentence equalization.
In the match tie-break, Fritz was the more aggressive, using his first match ball for the 11: 7 lead for Team World.
The match to read in the live ticker!
What about the Laver Cup?
After the victories of Dominic Thiem (6: 4, 5: 7, [13:11] against Denis Shapovalov), Jack Sock over Fabio Fognini (6: 1, 7: 6 (3)) and Stefanos Tsitsipas over Taylor Fritz (6 : 2, 1: 6, [10: 7]) as well as Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev about Denis Shapovalov and Jack Sock (6: 4, 7: 5) Team Europe had come out 3: 1 from the opening day on Friday.
On Saturday, there were two points per match. Here John Isner won against Alexander Zverev (6: 7 (2), 6: 4, [10: 1]), Roger Federer against Nick Kyrgios (6: 7 (5), 7: 5, [10: 7]), Nadal against Milos Raonic (6: 3, 7: 6 (1)) and the double Kyrgios / Sock against Nadal and Tsitsipas (6: 4, 3: 6, [10: 6]). The score at the end: 7: 5 for Team Europe.
Sunday is now about three points per win. After the success of John Isner / Jack Sock , Team World took the lead for the first time, thanks to the Fritz victory it is now 11: 7 for the world selection. Roger Federer must now win against John Isner to keep Team Europe in the race.