Carlos Alcaraz admitted there were “nerves” waiting to see if he would get the chance to seal Laver Cup glory for Team Europe.
World No 3 Alcaraz defeated Taylor Fritz 6-2, 7-5 in the final rubber to secure a dramatic 13-11 triumph for his team, though Team World so nearly claimed a third straight victory in the men’s team event.
Team World led 8-4 heading into the final day and were 11-7 ahead after the sides split the opening two rubbers on Sunday, with Ben Shelton defeating Europe’s Daniil Medvedev in the first singles rubber.
That meant Frances Tiafoe had the chance to seal victory for Team World against Alexander Zverev, who was playing on home soil in Berlin.
American Tiafoe led by a set and a break but could not hold on, with Zverev battling back to seal victory in a deciding 10-point tiebreak.
And, speaking on court afterwards, Alcaraz admitted it was difficult waiting to see if he needed to play or not.
“I mean, it’s great. Obviously, we came here with a goal, all of us – to win the Laver Cup,” he said.
“I’m really happy, I think all of us are all really happy about reaching our goal at the Laver Cup. I think all of us did pretty good work over the days.
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“I’m going to say that we almost lost, but Sascha [Zverev] came with some really good tennis to give me a chance to win the Laver Cup – so I think we are really happy with everything.
“The first set, I was there supporting, watching it live. It’s really difficult to watch the matches from outside. There’s a lot of nerves, killing us.
“Then I tried to stay aware a little bit. I was watching from TV inside the locker room, trying to give my support from there. I came here to watch the last game of the second set and then I had to warm up.
“But the nerves were there. I didn’t know if I was going to play or not until the last moment but I’m really happy that Sascha won at the end and gave me a chance to play once again.”
Alcaraz played a starring role for Team Europe across the weekend, winning three of his four rubbers – including both his singles rubbers – to help seal victory.
Triumph for Team Europe was a fifth in the seven editions of the tournament that have been held and snapped a two-year losing run to Team World.
This marks the final year of Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe taking on captaincy duties, with Yannick Noah and Andre Agassi stepping in from 2025.
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