Rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic came to a quick collaboration on their first doubles decision.
The second-ranked Swiss and third-ranked Serbian will share the court for the first time as doubles partnerswhen the pair partner against Team World's Kevin Anderson and Jack Sock at Laver Cup tonight.
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Federer and Djokovic both know their place on court dividing their doubles attack during their pre-Laver Cup presser in Chicago.
“I think I will take the deuce side. If Novak is OK with that, I will be happy to play on the deuce side,” Federer said when asked their planned alignment.
“I think I’m OK on the backhand,” a smiling Djokovic replied.
Asked about the challenges of partnering with Djokovic, one of the few men to hold a winning record over the 20-time Grand Slam champion, Federer said doubles is a different dynamic.
"Well, I mean, it's different, different mindset," Federer said. "I think the mindset here for me is always the team comes first. If that means I have less practice time or I can help Novak work on his return and I can hit extra serves to him so he plays better on the weekend, you know, you're at the service of the team. It's a different organization, as well. It comes from Thomas [Enqvist], the coach, and Björn [Borg], the captain, and it trickles down all the way to us. We try to come up with a game plan; also in terms of who plays, who practices when, who needs what. It's like getting to know each other.
"I enjoy the idea of being rivals throughout the year and then coming together like this for a weekend. It's incredibly exciting."
Picking up on Federer's offer to "help" one of the Open Era's greatest returners practice his return game prompted Team World captain John McEnroe to deadpan: "We're even more concerned now, because Roger is helping -- we noticed Novak was, at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, he seemed to be struggling with his return."
Photo credit: Christopher Levy