The ninth edition of the Laver Cup took place this past weekend at the O2 Arena in London. Anyway you look at it, it was simply a dominant performance by Team Europe, as they completely trounced Team World 13-5.
Six different European players contributed to European points. They were Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Jodar of Spain, Alexander Zverev of Germany, Casper Ruud of Norway, Flavio Cobolli of Italy, and Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic.
Alcaraz and Ruud both had a record of two wins and zero losses. Alcaraz beat Taylor Fritz of the United States in singles 6-3, 4-6, [13-11], and teamed up with Mensik to beat Fritz and Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-4 in doubles. Meanwhile, Ruud beat Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina 6-7, 6-4, [10-8] and teamed up with Zverev to beat Bublik and Brandon Nakashima of the United States 6-4, 7-6 in doubles.
Note that in the Laver Cup, if both players win a set, they go to a super tiebreak rather than go a third set. Also, Bublik represented Team World as Kazakhstan is part of Asia as well as Europe.
Meanwhile, Jodar won his only match as he beat Bublik in singles, 6-2, 6-3. On Sunday, Team Europe won both matches which were three points each. Mensik and Cobolli teamed up to beat Alex de Minaur of Australia and Fritz 7-5, 6-3 in doubles, and Zverev beat American Learner Tien 7-6, 6-3 in singles. The last two matches on Sunday did not have two be played because Europe had already clinched the title.
The Team Europe captain was Yannick Noah of France, the 1983 French Open champion. The Europeans rebounded after losing last year in San Francisco.
