Roger Federer achieved a triumph that he was bound to to keep Team Europe alive. And Alexander Zverev made sure that the Old Continent retained its Laver Cup title.
Zverev prevailed Sunday in a title-defining “super tiebreaker” against World Team Milos Raonic. The German executed a forehand cross winner to beat his opponent 6-4, 3-6, 10-4.
With this, the Europeans triumphed 13-11 in points.
After Zverev collapsed to celebrate his triumph, it was impossible to see him from the stands, amid the group of teammates that swarmed around him, including Federer, Rafael Nadal and captain Bjorn Borg.
The legendary Rod Laver, whose last name is inspired by the event co-organized by Federer, presented the trophy to the Europeans, in the eyes of John McEnroe, captain of the World Team.
“I played an incredible tiebreaker,” stressed Zverev. “I am super happy and super grateful to Roger, Rafa and the rest of the team. Without them today on the bench I would not have succeeded ”.
Two hours earlier, Federer had delighted the 17,000 spectators gathered in his native country, beating John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (3) to make the decisive match necessary.
The European team also won the first two editions of the Laver Cup, played in 2017 in Prague and last year in Chicago.
Europe started Sunday activity with a 7-5 lead, under a system that awarded one point for a win on Friday and two on Saturday. Victories in doubles and in each of the three singles duels earned three points on Sunday.
Nadal was absent from the European team in the opening doubles with Federer and the first singles match, due to a sore hand.
Isner and doubles specialist Jack Sock then beat Federer and Stefanos Tsitsipas 5-7, 6-4, 10-8.
Dominic Thiem, fifth in the ranking and Nadal’s replacement in the singles, fell to Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-7 (3), 10-5, in a second consecutive game defined by a tiebreaker. AP