Team World wins second straight Laver Cup, beats Team Europe 13-2

In previous chapters of the Laver Cup, Team Europe was led by the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. They were among the reasons why the Europeans were 4-1 overall heading into this year’s event.

Well, the Big 4 ain’t walkin’ through that door in 2023.

In the sixth installment of the Laver Cup that was marked by young, new-look rosters for each side, Team World thrashed Team Europe 13-2. The World won all four matches on Day 1 and three of the four on Day 2 to take a borderline insurmountable 10-2 advantage heading into Sunday’s finale. Needing only one more victory, the American pairing of Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe sealed the deal quickly by defeating Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(4), 7-6(5) to clinch the trophy for the home team in Vancouver, Canada.

It is the second straight triumph for the World, which won for the first time last year at the O2 Arena in London (13-8).

“I think once we got over the hump…if you haven’t done it and then you do it, you have more belief that you can,” captain John McEnroe explained. “We came here and we sort of looked at what happened, a couple guys (on Team Europe) pulled out and we’re like, ‘Wait a minute, not only could we (win), but we should, in our minds, do it.”

“The level from everyone in this team all week was amazing,” Taylor Fritz said. “Everyone showed up and played about as good as they could possibly play. That’s why we got it done with the scoreline that we did.”

Fritz is exactly right, as all six guys on the Team World roster earned at least one point. Tiafoe and Shelton both compiled a 3-0 record (2-0 in doubles and 1-0 in singles). Auger-Aliassime went 2-0 in front of his home crowd in Vancouver (1-0 in doubles, 1-0 in singles).

Team Europe’s only points were posted by Casper Ruud, who beat Tommy Paul 7-6(6), 6-2 on Saturday.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.