Spirits are running high in Team Europe camp as the Laver Cup gets into full swing in Berlin, with Carlos Alcaraz left a little confused by a comment from his captain Bjorn Borg.
The pre-tournament ceremonial duties tend to be a little more extravagant for this event than any other in the tennis year and the stars were out to celebrate ahead of the opening day of action.
Former Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and his former tennis player wide Ana Ivanovic were among the dignitaries in attendance at a pre-event party where Laver Cup mastermind Roger Federer took centre stage.
Team Europe’s press conference was an entertaining part of the show, with 21-year-old Alcaraz needing some help when Team Europe captain Borg reflected on a flight he took to America on Concorde.
The supersonic jet was taken out of service in 2003 due to safety concerns, with Alcaraz clearly a little too young to know what it was all about.
“Bjorn told us a story about when he flew the Concorde to New York, and Carlos didn’t even know what the Concorde was,” said world No 9 Casper Ruud. “We had to Google the Concorde for Carlos because he’s too young!”
The Team Europe camp also had some fun at Grigor Dimitrov’s expense, after images of his exhibition match with Novak Djokovic in Sofia earlier this week caused a stir.
Both players took part in a mini-striptease and there was a suggestion that it could be repeated if Team Europe wins in Berlin.
“We win, Grigor gets naked, just for the female fans. And for Bjorn,” declaed world No 2 Alexander Zverev.
Dimitrov joined in with the fan as he replied: “Shirt off is fine!”
The Bulgarian then reflected on his charity event with Djokovic as he said: “We had a great time with Novak. Honestly, he was such a great sport for that.
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“Just truly happy to be able to establish my foundation in such a way clearly.
“Now I’m on the team with these fellas over here, so I guess whatever I promise I need to deliver. So I better be careful.”
Zverev was also asked about his role as a leader in the Team Europe line-up, as he insisted he didn’t need to take on that role.
“I don’t see myself as a leader at all in this team because I don’t think this team needs anything like a leader,” said Zverev.
“We have only champions on this team. We all know what it takes to win the tournament. We all know what it takes to win big matches. I feel like we have all done it.
“I have played the most Laver Cups, but it is a very special tournament. It is very different to maybe the regular tournaments that we play, but I think we should enjoy each other.
“I think we should enjoy having the best on our team. You know, normally we see each other at later stages of tournaments, and we want to beat each other, we want to do everything we can to win, and now we are here as a team and we have one goal and that’s to win the Laver Cup.
“It doesn’t matter who is on the court. I think we, as a team, all have full trust in that person. I’m just happy to be part of it.”
