Judging by the way in which the inaugural Laver Cup panned out, Roger Federer is sort of pretty much as good at organising occasions as he’s at taking part in in them. The entire shebang got here right down to a extremely charged showdown between Federer himself and Nick Kyrgios – and that could be a mixture anybody would pay to see.
The 2 most gifted shotmakers within the recreation fought out a two-hour traditional which might stay alongside something we’ve got seen this yr. Kyrgios even discomfited his host through the use of a few of his personal cheekiest techniques in opposition to him, together with the so-called SABR, through which you cost the online as your opponent’s serve is coming down.
However to upstage Federer at his personal occasion would have represented a critical case of lese-majeste. Kyrgios got here up simply quick, failing to take a match level at 9-8 within the deciding tie-break and at last taking place by a 4-6, 7-6, 11-9 margin. The Laver Cup was thus claimed by Europe, who had collected 15 factors to the World’s 9. (Had every match counted for one level, as would possibly make extra sense to the sporting purists, the rating would have been 8-4.)
No-one knew what to anticipate from the Laver Cup at the beginning of this weekend, not even the gamers who had signed up for it. However the format has delivered in spades. The black court docket seemed novel and trendy. The compressed matches amplified the stress. And essentially the most distinctive aspect of the printed has been offered by the response pictures, whether or not of the World crew performing their choreographed celebration routines, or of Rafael Nadal throwing his head again in anguish each time a European misses a shot.
