Carlos Alcaraz led Team Europe - the team captained by Bjorn Borg in his last term, before leaving the place to Yannick Noah - to success against Team World, allowing the Europeans to return to winning the Laver Cup after a two-year abstinence.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Spaniard, who was coming from a lackluster period that lasted until his premature elimination in the 2nd round of the US Open, found his lost form, after the Paris Olympic Games and took Team Europe on his shoulders, getting8 of the 13 points that were then needed to win the final title.
No one, since this event was founded by Roger Federer and Toni Godsick, had ever been so decisive for the fate of his team, which probably would not have been able to prevail over the opponents captained by John McEnroe without his precious presence.
The young 4-time Slam champion has in fact won three of the four matches played (two in singles and one in doubles), two of which on Sunday, when each victory was worth three points. Before him, the record had been set by Federer himself, who in 2017 brought his team 7 points.
ADVERTISEMENT
For Alcaraz, it was a truly positive interlude in Berlin, thanks to which he had the opportunity to get to know many of his opponents better, who he is usually used to meeting only on the other side of the net.
"It's been great for me to spend time here with my teammates, to get to know the person behind the player. We always compete under a lot of pressure, people who only see us in the match tend to think and judge what they see. But behind everyone there are great people and getting to know each other more off the court has been great. I hope now I can play the rest of the year just like I did against Fritz. I think it was one of my best matches in recent times. I want to continue with this aggressive tennis, going to the net and being the one who dictates the pace of the match. I had difficult moments on the American tour because I didn't find my level and the consistency needed, but now I feel good," he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Previously, during the Laver Cup, Carlitos had also shared a tough attack against the schedule perpetuated by the ATP. As I said, Alcaraz gave a big hand to Team Europe, also beating Ben Shelton in singles with the result of 6-4 6-4. The Spaniard had not started his adventure at the doubles event well, losing the challenge in pair with Alexander Zverev against Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe. On the second day of the event, however, things went better and we saw a good version of the Spaniard, as had not happened for a long time, after the dark period after the Olympics.
"It was a really tough match, very solid from both sides. I'm happy to have won it because the level of this competition is very high. It's very important to play well against him because he has an incredible serve and he's a very unpredictable player, suddenly he serves a second serve at 220, it's crazy. I knew I had my chances if I stayed there and I tried to attack with the drive. I think I did well. It's been a tough season, I've played fewer tournaments than other players, but a lot of matches. Seasons are long physically and mentally, and these tournaments make me feel like myself again on the court. There are only a few commitments left until the end of the year, but I'm looking forward to feeling better little by little," he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
And it was precisely on the sidelines of these words that Carlitos criticized the ATP schedule, which puts tennis players' health at risk. The four-time Grand Slam champion gave his opinion on a calendar that, even many of his colleagues say, is too busy. Carlos shared their thoughts:
"A lot of people think that this is a good calendar, but others think that there are a lot of mandatory tournaments and probably in the years to come there will be even more. In a way, they are killing us. Now there are a lot of injuries because of the calendar and other things, but at some point there will be players who will have to skip tournaments because they have to take care of their body, their family and another life outside of tennis," he analyzed.
ADVERTISEMENT
