The inaugural Laver Cup, between teams Europe and World, was played from September 22-24 in Prague. The teams were captained by legends Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe.
The format sees day one matches worth one point each, day two matches worth two points and day three matches worth three points.
Therefore, a prudent strategy would be to hold back the top players for days two and three.
Day one
Unsurprisingly, neither Rafael Nadal nor Roger Federer were seen playing singles on day one. The first match saw Marin Cilic take on Frances Tiafoe, Juan Martin Del Potro’s last-minute replacement.
Cilic won in straight sets 7-6, 7-6 with Tiafoe showing flashes of breathtaking shotmaking but in vain.
Europe 1, World 0.
Next, Dominic Thiem took on John Isner and won the first set 7-6 while Isner took the second at 7-6. As per the tournament rules instead of a third set, there would be a match tie-break with the first player to reach ten points winning the match.
Isner raced to a 4-0 lead but Thiem came back strongly to win the match 7-6, 6-7 (10-7).
Europe 2, World 0.
Match three saw Alexander Zverev defeat Denis Shapovalov 7-6, 7-6.
Europe 3, World 0.
The final match of the day saw Nadal on the court but in doubles. Nadal and Tomas Berdych lost the first set 3-6 to Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock but fought back to take the second set with a 9-7 win in the second set tiebreak.
Briefly, it seemed as if Europe would win their fourth match but Sock-Kyrgios held their nerves to win the match tiebreak 10-7.
Day one ended with Europe’s three points to World’s one.
Day two
Federer said he was tired cheerleading for eight hours on day one. However, it did not reflect in his tennis.
Federer comfortably outplayed Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-2. He then said he wanted to quickly shower and get back to cheerleading Nadal whose match was next.
Europe 5, World 1.
Match two saw Rafa take the first set comfortably at 6-3 against Sock but lose the next at 3-6 before he rallied deep into his inexhaustible resources of energy to win the match tiebreak 11-9.
Europe 7, World 1.
In match three between hometown favourite Berdych and Kyrgios, Berdych took an early break and comfortably served out the set. Kyrgios, however, served well to take the second set to a tiebreaker which he won.
Kyrgios then won the match tiebreak 10-6 and gave World two much-needed points.
Europe 7, World 3.
The final match of day two was definitely the most awaited match of the entire tournament. Federer and Nadal were playing doubles for the first time against Sock and Querrey.
(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
In the first set, Federer’s lack of match doubles play was evident but Rafa upped his game with excellent serves, volleys and solid play from the back of the court to take the set 6-4. Bad play by both legends led to them losing the second set 1-6. The match tiebreak, however, saw them win all the relevant points to comfortably win it 10-5.
The highlight of the match was Nadal’s deft volleys and the wonderful personal chemistry between the two greats.
Europe 9, World 3.
At the end of day two, team Europe was just two wins away from winning the Laver Cup 2017. With Rafa and Fed both slated to play singles it seemed easy.
Day three
With day three matches having three points each, a seemingly unassailable lead of 9-3 for Europe suddenly became 9-6 as Isner and Sock played inspired doubles to win against Berdych and Cilic 7-6, 7-6.
However, Zverev restored Europe’s lead with a comfortable 6-4, 6-4 win over Querrey and Europe were 12-6 ahead.
Nadal was expected to win easily over Isner, but the giant American played excellent tennis to upset Rafa 7-5, 7-7 (7-1).
Somehow, it now all came to the last match. If Federer won then Europe would be champions, but if Kyrgios won it would go into a deciding doubles match.
Kyrgios started strongly by winning the first set 6-4, but Federer levelled the match by winning the second set 7-6 (8-6). In the match tiebreak, Kyrgios was ahead and it looked like he would win but somehow an inspired Federer pulled off some winners to take the tiebreak 11-9 and hence Europe lifted the Laver Cup.
Rafa’s animated support for his longtime rival Federer was something which will remain in memory for a long time.
Overall, the Laver Cup was a huge success especially with the points format retaining interest right until the last match. The only thing I did not like about the tournament was the dull grey colour of the courts.
Otherwise, the format was very exciting and with a lot of discussion about fading interest for the Davis Cup, maybe this format is something Davis Cup organisers may consider looking at.
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