At the end of Friday’s play, Ben Shelton declared Team World, the underdogs in this year’s competition, would retain the Rod Laver Cup, a trophy the team had won these past two consecutive years.
“I think we are going to win” he declared when the two teams ended the day at 2-2 having levelled by winning the final doubles. And his prophecy could well prove right as again, the visitors ended the second day pocketing the doubles in what could well have been the most one-sided rubber in the history of the competition to establish a lead going into the finals day where 12 points are available from four matches.
And it is Shelton who is driving Team World having featured in four of the eight matches played so far and is scheduled to play two more on Sunday.
He helped keep Team World in contention on the first day when he partnered Taylor Fritz to victory over Team Europe’s Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev.
He was back in action in the singles on Saturday but lost the second rubber 6-4 6-4 to Alcaraz after Frances Tiafoe had snatched the opening rubber 6-3 4-6 [10-5] from Daniil Medvedev in the third set Champion’s tie-break.
Having split the two singles in the afternoon session the two teams were still searching for that breakthrough and in the packed Uber Arena, that finally came about in the evening, started by Fritz taking down home favourite Zverev 6-4 7-5 to the disappointment of the crowd to go 6-4 up, and then Canadian Alejandro Tabilo in partnership with that man Shelton, stormed through the doubles to humble Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud 6-1 6-2 and establish a commanding 8-4 lead which they will no doubt, stoutly defend on the deciding day!
Shelton was disappointed at himself for losing his singles rubber, but he certainly made up for that with his doubles performances.
“I love playing out here,” the 21-year-old from Atlanta, Georgis, said. “I love this format, singles and doubles, and I couldn’t get it done in singles today. It was too good from Carlitos but I wanted to come out here and redeem myself tonight.
“So Alejandro put me on his back a little bit and we were able to get it done.”
Tabilo, a 27-year-old from Toronto, added: “It’s just unbelievable. I’m so happy I can support the team a little bit. The doubles was great, it was especially so easy playing with Ben and that huge serve. We paired good.”
Looking back at the individual singles matches which on paper and in world ranking terms should have gone Team Europe’s way, the first real signs that rankings were irrelevant was Medvedev’s loss to Tiafoe.
The American, a semi-finalist at this year’s US Open, hadn’t beaten the Russian in their last five meetings but that obviously didn’t intimidate Tiafoe as he played confidently and took the match to his opponent as often as he could and was seen to be enjoying the moment.
“I just have a lot more confidence in myself. I’m having a lot of fun playing the game at the moment,” Tiafoe revealed. “I’m just trying to play the right way and compete as hard as I can, let the chips fall where they may. I respect everyone, but I’m just not fearing anyone at the moment. I’m just going out there, taking it to guys and seeing what happens.”
Adding: “Honestly, I just started having fun. Laughing with my team, laughing with my team over there and here. Just having a bit of fun and started really finding my rhythm,
“The courts are obviously much slower than I’m used to playing on, so it’s tough playing Daniil on this court. But after the second set, midway into the second and in the tie-break, I felt like I was Roger Federer, honestly.”
A comment appreciated by the great Swiss who was watching from the crowd. Carlos Alcaraz produced a more than solid perfromance
Alcaraz was also thrilled to be playing in front of Federer, a player he has admired for many years, and when he took to the stage against Shelton, he produced a more than solid performance to dismiss his opponent with plenty of powerful shots, and deft touches which the American did well to match on the odd occasion.
“I’m really happy for being part of Team Europe in Laver Cup for the first time,” Alcaraz said. “I’m trying to be as [good] a partner as I can, as [good] a player as I can to help my team. I played against Ben, [who] is a really powerful player, a really tough one. I’m pretty happy because I played a really solid match since the beginning until [the end] of the match.”
The Spaniard lost on his debut Friday evening in doubles but bounced back against the big-serving American in what proved a high-quality contest as Shelton did little wrong. Alcaraz was just better, saving all five break points he faced.
“In the other tournaments I’m obviously playing for myself. When you are playing as a team, you’re playing for them as well, so you feel a little bit more the pressure because you feel like you have to win for them,” Alcaraz added. “I feel a little bit more the pressure as I said, but at the same I feel more energy having them supporting me behind in the tough moments during the match.”
After Alcaraz had levelled the scores, Fritz restored Team World’s two-point advantage by downing Zverev for the third time in a row, having knocked the German out of Wimbledon and the US Open earlier this season. Alexander Zverev felt unwell during his match
Unfortunately, Zverev was suffering from some sort of illness which didn’t help him. He came under pressure from the outset as had to stave off two break points in his opening service game and never looked to be able to dent his opponent’s powerful serve, despite capturing it at the start of the second only for Fritz to bring the match back to him..
The final day will see Medvedev taking on Shelton in the first singles. They will be followed by Zverev versus Tiafoe and what should be an excellent match, Alcaraz against Fritz, The doubles if required, sees Ruud partner Alcaraz against Tiafoe and Shelton, in what will be his fifth match in three days! Taylor Fritz took command early
