Bill Simons
In so many ways it was a splendid summer for American tennis. Jenson Brooksby, a California meteor with an imaginative, unorthodox game opened eyes as he reached the Newport final, the DC semis, and, after a dandy US Open run, joined the “I went to New York and got a set off of Nole” club. Big John Isner again took the Atlanta title, the even bigger Reilly Opelka reached the fourth round of the Open and Brandon Nakashima displayed great form and promise.
It didn’t take much topspin to say that American men’s tennis, with its 13 players in the top 100, was trending nicely. But today in Boston, American and non-European tennis got a rude awakening when Norwegian Casper Ruud, who’d had a wonderful summer, took Opelka down 6-3, 7-6(4).
But no big deal. In the past three Laver Cups (in old Prague, muscular Chicago and diplomatic Geneva), Team Europe, led by their curiously impassive Scandinavian captain Bjorn Borg, had to fight mightily on the final day to win over Team World, led by the feisty New Yorker John McEnroe.
Ruud’s win was only the first inning, and an inventive strength of the Laver Cup is its clever scoring system that invites come-from-behind surges in the three day affair.
But then, in a monumental struggle, the 21-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Alliassime fell in a disheartening, tight battle to Matteo Berrettini 6-7(3), 7-5, 10-8. It’s challenging to root against the hunky, happy Italian, who tested Djokovic in the Wimbledon final and is said by self-appointed judges of such matters to be the most handsome man to ever play the game. But for many the loss was not pretty.
Auger-Aliassime, who has a problematic history in finals and was flat in his US Open semi-final loss to Daniil Medvedev, was up 7-5 today in the deciding ten-point tiebreak, but dropped five of the next six points. For disappointed Boston Garden fans, this wasn’t like their beloved Celtics losing to the evil Lakers. But it was a kind of tennis equivalent.
But the World (if we can call “Team World” that) was only down 0-2 and patriots (that would be non-Euro fans, not New England’s football team) still hoped their guys could be giant killers. And who better to bring the mighty Euro goliaths to their knees than the diminutive 5’ 6” Diego Schwartzman, who delights in upsetting the greats? And the 6’ 6” forehand bashing Andrey Rublev is quite great. The No. 7 player in the world, has won the fourth most ATP matches this year. He may be a Laver Cup newbie, but he quickly took the first set of the evening session 6-4.
To the delight of many, his diminutive Latin foe staged an impressive comeback. Argentine Schwartzman, the No. 15 player in the world, won the second set 6-3 and, like Felix before him, took a 7-5 lead in a match-ending tiebreak. But Diego, too, faltered, losing 11-9.
Now the rout was on – right? The fact that the all-European Big 3, Nole, Rafa and Laver Cup founder Federer hadn’t even suited up seemed to add insult to injury. And none of the top three players in the Team Europe line-up – world No. 2 Medvedev, No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas and No. 4 Alexander Zverev – played singles Friday. Still the Euro’s lineup was packed, with five of the world’s top seven players. Undermanned Team World couldn’t a single top ten player.
Plus for decades, for US fans, there’s been a hefty 800-pound gorilla in the room. America has had some fine 21st century male players. What a career Andy Roddick had. If there were a Hall of Fame based on gentlemanly graciousness and mighty forehands, former No. 4 James Blake would be a shoe-in. For so many years Isner was a reliable top tenner. But when it comes to male superstars, No. 1 players and Grand Slam winners, America is in a drought that’s rather painful to reflect on.
The US men haven’t won a Slam in 18 years. And while Americans celebrate when a hopeful reaches the second week of a Slam or takes a set off a legend, Europeans from all corners of the continent – Serbs, Swiss, Brits, Spaniards – and now a Russian – lift the Slam trophies. It’s pretty much a given.
And it seemed to be a given that Team World would be falling to a truly debilitating 4-0 first-day deficit. Federer emerged from a hearty locker room celebration and looked on from the first row like a not quite smug king surveying his realm as the NAFTA duo of Isner and Denis Shapovalov were broken early and dropped the first set of their match against Zverev and Berrettini. Clearly Team World was deflated. In a notable understatement, John Isner told the media, “We were not that encouraged.” Then he added, “But we were seeing the ball pretty good.”
Shapovalov observed, “It was a pretty crazy environment…Johnny Mac was doing a good job getting the energy pretty high.” And some cocky trash talk by the overconfident Zverev stoked John and Denis, who won the second set tiebreak 7-6(2) and then scored a runaway 10-1 victory in the deciding tiebreak.
Afterward, Assistant Captain Patrick McEnroe admitted, “It would be nice to be up 3-1 instead of down 3-1.” He noted that Denis and John’s grit had been awesome. “It’s huge. It gives us some momentum.” Isner was more succinct. With a hint of defiance, he pronounced, “It’s game on.” Others noted, at least for tonight, it wasn’t the end of the world.
