There is always much talk of team spirit when the Laver Cup rolls into town, and the latest edition of the competition, which got underway in Boston on Friday, has been no exception.
“It’s special when you play for more than just yourself, everyone would agree with that assessment,” said John Isner on the eve of the event, as he looked ahead to Team World’s prospects of claiming a first victory in a tournament that has become tennis’s answer to the Ryder Cup.
But it’s one thing to talk about camaraderie, quite another to demonstrate it.
While Isner and Nick Kyrgios, Laver Cup veterans both, spoke earnestly and eloquently of the special appeal of a team event in what is, for the most part, an unrelentingly individual sport, their Team Europe counterparts channelled a more relaxed and jovial vibe. Andrey Rublev had not even started answering his first question before he dissolved into laugher. “They are making fun of me,” he smiled, looking down the table at his team-mates. Bjorn Borg joked about relations between his native Sweden and Casper Ruud’s Norway. And when one questioner cut out after offering greetings from the Novak Djokovic Tennis Centre in Belgrade, Daniil Medvedev quipped, “Novak has to work on the Wi-Fi in his centre”, before suggesting that he wouldn’t be playing doubles because “I’m not really good.”
It helps that Team Europe has six of the world’s top-10 players. An unbeaten record in the Laver Cup also goes a long way towards alleviating any sense of pressure. And, of course, you might expect a side captained by John McEnroe and spearheaded by Nick Kyrgios to have a certain brooding intensity relative to a team led by Borg, the serene Swede they once called the ice man of tennis.
The real proof of unity comes on court, however – and there too Team Europe had the edge. The opening match pitted a pair of Laver Cup debutants against one another, the 10th-ranked Ruud taking on Reilly Opelka, the world No 19. With the big-serving Opelka struggling to make his power tell in what he later called “the slowest conditions I’ve ever played in”, Ruud’s superior consistency proved decisive, the Norwegian seizing an early break to lay the foundations for a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victory.
So how was it, Opelka was asked afterwards, having the likes of McEnroe and Kyrgios in his corner? Nice, replied the American, who said he could see how McEnroe’s competitive spirit and positivity once made him such a great player. Then came the killer caveat: “At the end of the day, I’ve played 20 weeks this year – I know my game the best, I have the best feel for what’s going on out there.”
Asked a similar question, Ruud offered a significantly warmer response. “Borg is one of the first real legends, and to have him on the bench is incredible, it’s been a dream of mine,” said the Norwegian, the beneficiary of some animated tactical advice from Alexander Zverev midway through the second set. “It’s a great feeling, I have great team-mates. It’s a really fun experience.”
The entertainment factor was ramped up further when Roger Federer, the event’s godfather, appeared in the stands early in the first set. It says something about the stature of a player when he receives the loudest cheer of the night without actually picking up a racket, but such is the status of the Swiss, who is convalescing after his latest bout of knee surgery. “The crowd was going crazy, it gave me chills,” said Ruud. “The hair was rising on my arms.”
The Team World challenge looked to be on a similarly upward trajectory when Felix Auger-Aliassime took the opening set against Matteo Berrettini. Full of confidence after his run to the US Open semi-finals, the 11th-ranked Canadian looked poised to repeat his recent victory over Berrettini in Cincinnati when he led 7-5 in the match tiebreak, only for the Italian to complete his recovery with a 6-7 (3-7), 7-5, 10-8 victory.
One for the team, perhaps, Matteo? “I felt a different energy,” said Berrettini after a contest that, at two hours and 52 minutes, was the longest in the competition’s short history. “I was playing for my team, not just for myself. It felt great, and they helped me a lot.”
In another thrilling finish, Rublev recovered from 6-2 in the match tiebreak against Diego Schwartzman to give Team Europe a 3-0 lead. Schwartzman stood within two points of the match at 8-5, before Rublev clawed his way back to 9-8. The Russian squandered the match point with a double fault, but he recovered to win a lung-busting 24-shot rally on his second, slotting away a forehand volley to complete a 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 win.
Team World belatedly got a point on the board when Isner and Denis Shapovalov beat Berrettini and Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 10-1 in the doubles. Given the format of the competition, which sees two points awarded for a win on the second day, and three on the final day, there is still plenty to play for.
“I think we’ve got a great team spirit,” said McEnroe, who will be eager to harness the support of the home crowd on day two. “But we’ve got to step up.”