Alexander Zverev battled past his nerves to help prolong Team Europe’s Laver Cup hopes of a fifth win.
Ultimately key in bringing the Laver Cup back to Team Europe, Alexander Zverev was tasked with overcoming America’s vibrant Frances Tiafoe.
Moments after Ben Shelton put his team within a single win of victory by defeating Daniil Medvedev, Zverev, who was reportedly fighting off an illness, stepped on to the iconic black court.
Having lost his opening singles match to Taylor Fritz, his third defeat to the American since July, Zverev’s historic struggles with pressure looked destined to hinder him again.
With Shelton having won on a tight third set 10-point tie-break, Zverev did the exact same, winning five points on the bounce from 5-5.
Alexander Zverev praises ‘best advice’ he received from Daniil Medvedev
With the Russian having endured a week to forget, he was lucky not to be disqualified completely after Medvedev hurled his racquet into the crowd.
Losing to both Tiafoe and Shelton, Medvedev overcame his grump to suggest a small tweak his teammate ought to make.
“The best piece of advice came from Daniil Medvedev, who told me to stand a little further back on my returns and hit flatter to his [Tiafoe’s] forehand,” Zverev told the Laver Cup.
“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.”
With Zverev also attributing his win to Alcaraz’s pre-match confidence, Team Europe’s comeback victory made for a thrilling finale.
The Laver Cup has caused some unlikely friendships to develop
While often fierce rivals on court, the Laver Cup’s selling point is its ability to force players to work together.
By and large an individual sport, the event takes 12 singles players and forces them to work things out together.
Zverev and Medvedev have previously clashed on tour, with dramatic press conferences seeing the two take verbal chunks out of each other.
However, while not necessarily something that affects spectators, their collaboration this week makes for an interesting narrative shift.
Arguably, it’ll be the only thing that keeps the Laver Cup alive.
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