Carlos Alcaraz has been handed a chance to fire Team Europe to Laver Cup glory on the final day of the tournament, but he faces a huge challenge to turn the tie in his side’s favour.
A crushing win for Ben Shelton and Alejandro Tabilo over Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas handed a John McEnroe Team World an 8-4 lead heading into the final day of action in Berlin.
So Team Europe captain Bjorn Borg has turned to his trump card Alcaraz, who will team up with Ruud for a must-win doubles match to start the action on Sunday against the American dream team of Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe.
With three points available for each match win on the final day, Alcaraz and Ruud will bring Team Europe back into the contest scores if they win that doubles contest.
Yet the form of the weekend so far suggests the big-hitting American duo are firm favourites to come out on top in that match.
Daniil Medvedev will have a chance to bring Team Europe some joy when he takes on Shelton in the second match of the day, but that could end the contest if Shelton wins his doubles and singles match on Sunday.
Alexander Zverev will take on Tiafoe in the third match of the day and if the contest is still live by the time we get to the final match, Alcaraz and Taylor Fritz will shoot it out to decide who win the 2024 Laver Cup.
The odds would suggest Team World will have wrapped up a third successive victory in the tournament by then, with Team World captain McEnroe confident his players are ready to retain their title.
“In the other tournaments, obviously I’m playing for myself,” said Alcaraz. “And when you’re playing as a team, you’re playing for them as well. So you feel a little bit more pressure because you feel like you have to win for them.
“But at the same time, I feel more energy, having them supporting me from behind. In the tough moments during the match, I see them.
“They’re supporting, saying ‘come on’ all the time and it relaxes me during the match. It is a unique experience for me that I really enjoy.”
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Meanwhile, Alcaraz hit out at the packed tennis calendar after claiming his first victory at the Laver Cup.
The Spaniard said the sport’s governing bodies are going to “kill us in some way” because of the physical demands exerted on players.
Britain’s Jack Draper called the schedule “mental” after heading from the US Open to Manchester to play in the Davis Cup for Great Britain last week.
Speaking after a 6-4m 6-4 win over American Ben Shelton, Alcaraz told a press conference: “Probably during the next few years it’s going to be even more mandatory tournaments. Probably they are going to kill us in some way.
“Right now there are a lot of injured (players), because of the balls, because of the calendar, a lot of things. Probably at some point a lot of players are going to miss a lot of tournaments because of that.”
Alcaraz’s victory was the sole bright spot for the European team on the second day of the Ryder Cup-style competition as the rest of the world side took an 8-4 lead.
The teams were level at the start of the day but American Frances Tiafoe got the reigning champions off to the perfect start with a 3-6 6-4 (10/5) win over Daniil Medvedev.
Alcaraz then levelled proceedings but Taylor Fritz claimed another big win over Alexander Zverev, beating the German 6-4 7-5 in Berlin, and Shelton and Alejandro Tabilo comfortably defeated Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-1 6-2 in doubles.
