Phantom Zverev has to deliver against Fritz

The Laver Cup in Berlin is surprisingly close. For the local hero, that means pressure – and the possibility of a new arch-rival.

The favorites for the Laver Cup in Berlin were actually clearly distributed. But on the second day of the tennis tournament between Team Europe and Team World, co-initiated by tennis legend Roger Federer, it looked like the title would be a real thriller. With the continental duel tied at 4:4, Alexander Zverev had to prove himself in singles for the first time on Saturday evening. In Taylor Fritz, he quickly met something of a bogeyman. For the 27-year-old, who has so far shone in Berlin more as a phantom than as a local hero, that means pressure.

The fact that the Laver Cup is still so evenly matched on day two is quite surprising. While Team Europe has five players from the world’s top 10 (Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud, Grigor Dimitrov) in Berlin, Team World has only one player of this quality, Taylor Fritz. Before the tournament, most observers therefore expected the Europeans to win.

But Team World managed to pull off its first surprise in the very first match, when Francisco Cerúndolo, ranked number 31 in the rankings, defeated Casper Ruud (number 9) in straight sets. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dimitrov then won their singles, but the top-class European doubles team, consisting of the world’s second and third ranked players Zverev and Alcaraz, was unable to prevail against Fritz and Ben Shelton from the USA.

At the Laver Cup, one point is awarded for each win on day one, two points are awarded for each match won on day two, and three points are awarded for a win on day three. After each team secured one of the first two singles matches on day two – Medvedev lost to Francis Tiafoe and Alcaraz defeated Shelton – the score was now 4:4 before the Zverev singles.

Zverev also has to deliver for his team if the event is not to tip into a surprise. The audience will also have certain expectations of Zverev, because so far the German, who is supposed to shine as a local hero in Berlin’s Uber Arena, has been surprisingly rare. Instead of cheering on his teammates from the couch specially set up for the teams on the sidelines, Zverev preferred to spend most of his time behind the scenes and leave the cheering to the other members of his team.

To get the crowd excited, the German relies solely on his performance on the court. That went wrong with the defeat in the doubles. Doubles partner Alcaraz was able to make up for the defeat with his singles victory against Shelton on Saturday – and received loud support from the crowd, which included a surprising number of Spanish flags.

Zverev will probably need a similarly good performance to win over the home crowd who have cheered him on so far. But that won’t be easy, because Zverev is up against none other than Taylor Fritz. Zverev lost to the American this year in both the round of 16 at Wimbledon and the quarter-finals of the US Open. The fact that Zverev is still waiting for his first Grand Slam title after this season is also due in no small part to Fritz.

On Friday, Fritz was also part of the doubles match that defeated Zverev and Alcaraz. Another defeat in the singles and not only Zverev’s home game in Berlin would be a disaster – he would also have defeated a new arch-rival. He has to deliver.