Strategy and solidarity underpin Team Europe’s triumph | Laver Cup

Over the past three Laver Cups, it’s been easy to think that Team World has had the better team spirit, but Team Europe’s esprit de corps came to the fore in the final 24 hours of Laver Cup 2024, allowing the hosts to pull off a dramatic and impressive comeback their Captain didn’t really believe was possible on Sunday morning.

“At the start of today I wasn’t sure we had much opportunity to win,” Björn Borg admitted after his team’s 13-11 victory on the final match of the weekend. “What these guys delivered is very impressive, especially Sascha [Zverev] and Carlitos [Alcaraz]. They had a lot of pressure on them in the last two matches, and they played very well.”

Despite the giggly, champagne-laden mood of the victors on Sunday night, the way Team Europe tackled the final day was the result of a lot of thought within the squad and every member of it contributing. The teams get to see the opponent’s line-up on alternating days (it has to be like that to avoid the same players facing each other twice), and on Saturday night Europe got to see Team World’s lineup for Sunday before making its own nomination.

The first task was to work out which pair could best counter Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe in the opening doubles. “We were a bit clueless for the doubles match-up,” admitted Casper Ruud. “So we asked Carlos if he’d be interested in playing doubles, because obviously he has played doubles on the big occasion with Rafa [Nadal] at the Olympics. He doesn’t play doubles too often, but he’s such a great player that, if you put him in any position, he’ll give his all.

“We asked him if he were to play doubles, who would he feel comfortable playing with? For some reason he picked me. I don’t know why, but I guess now we know – he gets the best out of me somehow.”

After a shaky start, Alcaraz and Ruud, who faced each other in the US Open final two years ago, found their range, broke in the third game, and were never behind after that, winning 6-2 7-6(6).

That narrowed the gap to just one point between the two teams, and with Daniil Medvedev favored to beat Shelton in the first of Sunday’s singles, Team Europe were back in the driving seat. But Medvedev played what he described as “some of the worst tennis of my life” and lost on a 10-7 match tiebreak. Advantage Team World again.

Yet despite two singles defeats, Medvedev gave something incredibly valuable to his team. With Zverev trailing Tiafoe by a set and a break in a match Europe had to win, Medvedev was one of several members of the Europe team offering tips to the German.

“The best piece of advice came from Daniil Medvedev,” Zverev revealed, “who told me to stand a little further back on my returns and hit flatter to his [Tiafoe’s] forehand. I was having difficulty being aggressive against him, so Daniil told me that hitting flatter would make the ball stay low, which meant Frances had to hit the ball up. That gave me more of a chance. I started doing that and it made a difference.”

“We all did a combined job on the side,” Grigor Dimitrov said of the support the whole squad gave whoever was playing. “Everyone has different eyes and sees different things, we bounce different ideas off each other, and everyone was quite receptive to the information. I like that a lot.”

With Zverev winning an exhausting match 10-5 in the tiebreak after two hours, 34 minutes, it was left to the man who had started the Sunday strategy, Carlos Alcaraz, to finish it. In the winner-takes-the-trophy final match, Alcaraz was just too sharp for Taylor Fritz. The Spaniard has looked back to the form that saw him win Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and Olympic silver; at Laver Cup he has regained the smile he says is an indicator that he’s feeling good on court. He had a minor wobble in the second set when Fritz won three successive games to lead 5-4, but Alcaraz righted the ship, and he sealed victory for Team Europe with a 6-2 7-5 win.

Asked whether he felt the pressure to win the final match, Alcaraz said, “I had to win! After Sascha had beaten Frances, I had to complete the comeback. I tried not to show Taylor I was nervous. If I looked calm, I’m a good actor.”

It was the perfect ending to Borg’s seventh and last outing as European captain. His understated captaincy style and legendary status is clearly appreciated by his team, and he loves them as much in return. He was clearly happy as much for the friendship within Team Europe as he was for its victory in this final Laver Cup.