LAVER CUP TENNIS • Team Europe lead Team World to 11-1 • Did Roger Federer Help?

A veteran of all four Team Europe Laver Cup campaigns, Germany’s Alexander Zverev dug deep to hold off Team World’s John Isner and the American’s home crowd for a narrow 7-6(5), 6-7(6), 10-5 victory.

Zverev admitted the format of a match including the so-called ‘Laver tiebreak’ suited such a big server as Isner. It was midway through the second set after he failed to capitalize on a handful of break points that he had to juggle conflicting advice.

“My entire team was telling me to step back on the returns, then Roger’s behind me telling me to step in on the returns and then I was confused,” Zverev said.

“In the end I didn’t know who to listen to. Either I listen to eight people on the bench or I listen to 20 Grand Slams over there … At the end of the day I won so that’s the most important.”