Alexander Zverev celebrates victory with Team Europe

The world number two from Hamburg won his second singles match against the American Frances Tiafoe on Sunday with 6:7 (5:7), 7:5, 10:5 and laid the foundation for the turnaround for Team Europe. Captain Björn Borg’s team ultimately won 13:11 against John McEnroe’s world selection.

The decision was made in the last match of the show tournament between the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz from the USA. Alcaraz, who is number three in the world rankings, played strongly and won 6:2, 7:5. On Friday, Zverev lost the doubles with Alcaraz against Fritz and Ben Shelton. On Saturday, the German suffered a singles defeat against Fritz.

It was the fifth success for Team Europe in the seventh edition of the Laver Cup. Zverev had already been involved in all historic victories between 2017 and 2021. San Francisco will host the event in 2025.

On Sunday, Alcaraz and Norwegian Casper Ruud had kept the hosts in the race with a 6:2, 7:6 (8:6) win against Shelton/Tiafoe. Shelton’s subsequent 6:7 (6:8), 7:5, 10:7 win against Russian Daniil Medvedev put Zverev under pressure.

This increased after the first set against Tiafoe, which Zverev lost in the tie-break. In the second set, the German’s frustration grew. Zverev discussed the referee’s decisions, and when the score was 2:2, he hit the ball under the roof after losing a point, and shortly afterwards he conceded the first break of the set.

Zverev countered with a break of his own, found new courage and woke up the crowd, who now celebrated every point won. With great fighting spirit, Zverev earned the match tie-break and secured the victory.

However, Zverev left his future open after the tournament.