Catch-up or march through: Zverev suffers for Europe, but Team World is on the verge of triumph

Catching up or marching through
Zverev suffers for Europe, but Team World is on the verge of triumph

22.09.2024, 06:52

Alexander Zverev, who is obviously in poor health, is once again defeated by his arch-rival at the Laver Cup, and now Team Europe needs to catch up.

Always Taylor Fritz: Germany’s best tennis player Alexander Zverev also lost the quick reunion with the American at the Laver Cup in Berlin. With a 4:6, 5:7 in the second encounter within a few hours, the Hamburg native failed to put his Team Europe ahead 6:4. Just two weeks ago, Zverev suffered a painful defeat in the quarterfinals of the US Open against local hero Fritz, who was gradually becoming something of a bogeyman.

Overall, it was the fourth singles encounter in the calendar year between the Hamburg native and Fritz, and he also lost to the American at Wimbledon. Zverev had only achieved success in his tournament victory in Rome. “He’s been at the top for quite a while, but for me this is all a bit new,” said Fritz in Berlin in the evening: “I was lucky to have put in some really good performances against him in the last few matches.”

On Saturday afternoon, Spanish superstar Alcaraz had already defeated the American Shelton 6:4 and 6:4 and equalized against the world selection (4:4), which had taken the lead after the surprising victory of Frances Tiafoe (USA) over Daniil Medvedev (3:6, 6:4, 10:5). Fritz won 6:4 with his victory against Zverev. The doubles in the evening was won by Team World: Shelton, who played his second match of the day, won together with the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo against Casper Ruud (Norway) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece) clearly with 6:1 and 6:2. The selection is now leading 8:4 before the last four matches on Sunday.

Increased heart rate

Three singles and one doubles are played every day at the show tournament. Each professional can play two singles matches. The three-set matches count towards the overall ranking: a win on Saturday gives two points, three on Sunday – 13 points are needed for the overall victory. To defend its title, Team World needs two more wins from the last four matches.

Zverev is now due to play the third match of the day against Frances Tiafoe in the evening, but the German is in poor health: After the match against Fritz, Zverev complained of an increased heart rate, during the duel the German coughed and had to keep leaning on his racket. He has been suffering from a fever for four days and is not feeling well, Zverev revealed. The doctor had to come onto the court in the middle of the second set.

The Laver Cup, co-organized by Roger Federer, is being held for the seventh time and is being held in Germany for the first time. Europe won the first four duels, and the world selection was victorious twice. A total of three more singles and one doubles are scheduled for Sunday.