By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday September 21, 2019
Alexander Zverev edged Milos Raonic to clinch the Laver Cup for Team Europe on Sunday in Geneva.
Photo Source: Christopher Levy
The World came to an end for Team World on Sunday at the Laver Cup, as Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev guided Team Europe back from the brink in Geneva.
Down by four points (11-7) after two matches on Sunday, Federer defeated John Isner to pull Team Europe within one and Zverev stopped Milos Raonic in a match tiebreak to put the finishing touches on a dramatic 13-11 victory for Team Europe.
Zverev, who improved to 5-1 lifetime at Laver Cup, has now clinched the Laver Cup in successive seasons.
The day started with fireworks, bitterness and disappointment as the withdrawal by Rafael Nadal due to a wrist injury was prefaced by Nick Kyrgios’ withdrawal and some frustration on the side of Team World, which claimed that it was left handcuffed when it came to matching up with Team Europe’s new lineup.
“Unfortunately, you know, the rules that are in place did not allow us to make the sort of changes that we would have preferred to make, because since it was our turn on Sunday to match up against their players, we were basically denied that once the schedule was put out,” Team World Vice-Captain Patrick McEnroe said. “So once Nadal just pulled out, our options were limited. We would have put [Denis] Shapovalov in as our next player, but because he was matched up against Thiem, we were not allowed to do that. That was the reason for our protests that we decided to wait a little bit before we left the locker room, because we don't think that’s fair.”
Fair or not, Team World responded well to the new reality and took two consecutive three-point matches on Sunday.
Jack Sock and Isner defeated Federer and Stefanos Tsitsipas 5-7 6-4 10-8, and Taylor Fritz stunned Dominic Thiem, 7-5 6-7(3) 10-5 for a victory that he called one of the biggest of his career.
"This has to be one of the biggest one of the biggest wins of my career," said Fritz after the victory on court. "Just because it means so much to do it for the team. Tennis is an individual sport, you are usually playing for yourself. It means so much more when you're playing for other people."
The momentum quickly faded as Federer made relatively light work of Isner to bring Team Europe within one point of victory, 6-4 7-6(3). The Swiss ripped 12 aces and saved the only break point he faced to improve to 7-2 lifetime against Isner. Federer dropped just nine service points in the match and earned four break points against the hard-serving American.
In the fourth and final match of the day Zverev delivered the victory for Team Europe with a 6-4 3-6 10-4 triumph over Raonic, after the Canadian had rallied in the second set to force the final to be decided by a winner-take-all champion's tiebreak.