Team Europe narrowly dodges defeat to win 2019 Laver Cup

Sep 22, 2019
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Team Europe narrowly dodges defeat to win 2019 Laver Cup

Published Sep 22, 2019

Sunday did not get off to a good start for Team Europe as Saturday night would end up being Rafael Nadal's final on-court appearance at the 2019 Laver Cup. He withdrew from Sunday's play, where he was scheduled for doubles and singles, with a left wrist injury.

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Before the news hit, he beat Milos Raonic in straight sets on Saturday, and then lost a deciding match tiebreak with Stefanos Tsitsipas, that was more than just a little entertaining.

Their eventual 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 loss would let Team World close the gap to 5-7.

1

Taking the Hits

On Sunday, Federer teamed up instead with Tsitsipas and lost to Jack Sock and John Isner, 10-8 in the decider, giving Team World a size-able 10-8 lead. The Swiss literally took a hit for his team.

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Team World would also take a hit with Nick Kyrgios pulling out with a shoulder injury.

2

Teamwork?

Stepped in for Kyrgios, Taylor Fritz scored his first Laver Cup win in a deciding tiebreaker over Dominic Thiem. Then Federer kept his team's hopes alive with a straight-set win over John Isner.

The GIFs were aplenty as always from Geneva, with moments of teamwork and almost-teamwork taking place on both sidelines.

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Though they were both on the sidelines for the last match, all eyes still remained very much on Federer and Nadal.

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3

Repeat Champions

With Team World up 11-10, the final singles match would decide the 2019 champions. Alexander Zverev won 6-4, 3-6, 10-4 over Milos Raonic to secure the title for Team Europe.

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It's the second year in a row that Zverev has clinched the trophy.

Zverev will get a big confidence boost from his play this weekend, and notably, so will Sock, who won his first singles match of 2019 on Day 1.