Laver Cup win will stay forever with me: Rublev
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
BOSTON • Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev clinched the Laver Cup for Team Europe with a 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 10-3 win over Team World's Reilly Opelka and Denis Shapovalov on Sunday.
The Europeans entered the final day of the event needing one victory from any of the four scheduled matches to secure the win and wasted no time as they picked it up in the lead encounter for an insurmountable 14-1 lead.
"The score says that it was 14-1, but it could have gone both ways a lot of the time," German Zverev, the Tokyo Games men's singles gold medallist, said.
"We (did) a lot of hard work for this victory throughout the whole week... The group of this team has been absolutely amazing. I think a lot of us came a lot closer together and to be honest, I can't wait for London next year."
Rublev, who won a gold medal in mixed doubles with fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Tokyo Olympics, added that the Laver Cup victory was a special moment for him.
"This year, I had two really emotional moments. One was the Olympic gold medal and this week is the second," the world No. 5 said.
"It's something that's going to stay forever with me."
Each win at the exhibition event earns one point on the first day, two points on the second day and three points on the final day, with the first team to reach 13 points declared the winners.
Team World needed to secure all four matches on the final day to claim the trophy but American Opelka and Canada's Shapovalov were unable to finish the job after winning the second set.
4
Team Europe have won all four editions of the Laver Cup since its inception in 2017.
Nick Kyrgios, who lost his singles and doubles matches for Team World, said this would be the last time he would participate in the tournament, the brainchild of 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer.
"I'm sure I won't be here again, so I took everything in this week. I will be watching from my couch next Laver Cup, cheering for Team World," the Australian said.
Team Europe have now won the first four editions of the three-day event named after Australian great Rod Laver.
Both Federer and Rafael Nadal did not participate in this year's Laver Cup - it was axed last year due to the pandemic - while top-ranked Novak Djokovic gave it a miss.
REUTERS