Laver Cup: Tiafoe, Auger-Aliassime, Sock & Co as big party crashers
Team World won the Laver Cup for the first time. In particular, because for the first time not only Jack Sock was the sole guarantor for points, but John McEnroe's team presented an extremely strong team performance.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Sep 25, 2022, 08:11 pm
Frances Tiafoe still had one in his quiver, you almost had to assume that after the obvious defeat on Saturday against Novak Djokovic given the strong performances at the US Open. The fact that the man from the USA then unpacked such a Houdini act against Stefanos Tsitsipas was not necessarily to be expected, especially after the first section of the duel with the Greek.
However, it was once again a champions tie-break in which Team World should show better nerves - and thus make the surprise success for the outsiders perfect. Memorable in this context: Tiafoe was able to thwart four match points on the way to his success over Stefanos Tsitsipas and always fall back on his best tennis in tight spaces. The son of two immigrants played the Champions Tiebreak in particular in an impressive manner.
Team World had a strong day three
This fact ran like a red thread through the performances of Team World over the entire three days. Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe had already triumphed on Friday after defending a match point against Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal with some great balls. Earlier, Alex de Minaur secured Team World's first point with a comeback win over Andy Murray.
However, day three was really decisive, when everything should really come together for John McEnroe's team. In the first match of the day, Jack Sock and Felix Auger-Aliassime were able to bring Team World back on track, then Canadian Auger-Aliassime even took the lead with his first triumph over Novak Djokovic. And then the stage was clear for Frances Tiafoe, who gratefully accepted the chance, proved against Tsitsipa's great fighting heart and in the end was allowed to sink to the ground jubilantly.
Party crash for Federer & Co
For John McEnroe, a negative series of four defeats against Team Europe has come to an end. Accordingly, the American was relieved about the success: Great, according to McEnroe, is an understatement to describe this Sunday evening. And when a team makes John McEnroe dance, they must have done something memorable.
Björn Borg's team now has to be annoyed by a mighty messed-up return of the Big Four in one team: the entire event was of course overshadowed by Roger Federer's big farewell to the big tennis stage, which he said solemnly, but with a There was a double defeat alongside Rafael Nadal, but the Swiss would undoubtedly have been happy about a team success in the self-initiated event. But not with Tiafoe, Auger-Aliassime, Sock & Co, who felt at home in the role of party crasher at the weekend.