Alcaraz equalizes: Europe and the world are engaged in a close tennis duel

Alcaraz equalizes
Europe and the world are engaged in a close tennis duel

21.09.2024, 18:06

At the Laver Cup, many of the best tennis professionals in the world compete in teams against each other: Team Europe against Team World. And it’s a close match. Superstar Carlos Alcaraz has to make up for a surprising defeat.

On the second day of the Laver Cup in Berlin, the tie between Team Europe and the world selection remains close. Spanish superstar Carlos Alcaraz won the exhibition tournament against the American Ben Shelton with 6:4, 6:4, meaning the European selection is tied at 4:4 after six matches.

On Saturday afternoon, Frances Tiafoe (USA) surprisingly defeated the Russian Daniil Medvedev 3:6, 6:4, 10:5, giving the world selection a 4:2 lead. After the first day of competition on Friday, the score was 2:2. Looking at the world rankings, Team Europe is actually clearly the favorite.

Germany’s top player Alexander Zverev, who lost his doubles match with Alcaraz against the Americans Taylor Fritz and Shelton on Friday, can put the European team in the lead on Saturday evening: He will face Fritz again in singles, as he did in the US Open quarter-finals a good two weeks ago. Zverev is a real Laver Cup eminence: He was the only player to be part of the winning team, and he personally scored the decisive points twice.

As close as rarely

Three singles and one doubles are played every day at the show tournament. The three-set matches are included in the overall ranking: a win on Saturday gives two points, on Sunday three – 13 points are needed for the overall victory. In the first six editions, there had only been one draw – in 2022 at the edition in London – after half of the twelve scheduled matches.

In London, Roger Federer’s tearful farewell ended with Team World winning 13:8. Europe has won the team competition twice so far, but the last two editions went to Team World. Last year, Team World won all of its first five matches, and it was not until the sixth duel that Caspar Ruud scored the first points for Europe – but it was to be the only one.