The inaugural Laver Cup was held at the O2 arena in Prague, in September last year, with Team Europe, led by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, defeating Team World 15-9. The second edition of the Laver Cup took place in Chicago last weekend, and Team Europe ruled again with a 13-8 victory.

The event is played over 3 days: each day 4 matches are played, 3 singles and a doubles. Each win is worth one point on Friday, 2 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. Matches are played in the best of 3 sets, with a 10-point match tiebreaker in the third. The winning team must reach 13 points. In case of a tie, a doubles match is played as a regular set to determine the winner.

On day 1, Team Europe won the 3 singles, while Federer and Djokovic lost in doubles against the pair of Kevin Anderson and Jack Sock.

On day 2, Team Europe led by 7 to 1 after Zverev’s win over Isner and Federer tennis lesson to Kyrgios. But Team World rallied back to 5-7 after Kevin Anderson’s surprising win over Novak Djokovic and Kyrgios and Sock doubles victory over Dimitrov and Goffin.

Team World led for the first time of the weekend after another doubles victory in day 3’s opening match! But Federer put Team Europe ahead by saving three match points to defeated Isner. And finally it all came down to Zverev, who dropped the first set before leveling at one set all and winning a thrilling match tiebreaker against Anderson. 13-8, Team Europe retains the title!
Next year’s competition will take place in Geneva, Switzerland from 20-22 September.

Photo credit: Christian Cresante