{"id":4837,"date":"2017-09-24T16:32:07","date_gmt":"2017-09-24T20:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=4837"},"modified":"2017-09-24T16:42:01","modified_gmt":"2017-09-24T20:42:01","slug":"team-europe-wins-inaugural-laver-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2017\/09\/24\/team-europe-wins-inaugural-laver-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Team Europe Wins Inaugural Laver Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Team Europe<\/strong> has won the first ever <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/2017\/09\/24\/laver-cup-instant-success\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Laver Cup<\/strong><\/a>, beating <strong>Team World<\/strong> with an aggregate score of 15-9. <strong>Roger Federer<\/strong> claimed the final points for <strong>Bjorn Borg\u2019s<\/strong> team, with a 4-6 7-6 11-9 win over Australia\u2019s <strong>Nick Kyrgios<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3>Federer sneaks past Kyrgios to seal Laver Cup triumph for Team Europe<\/h3>\n<p>Federer was not at his best, but his tactics were spot on as he substituted style for effectiveness at key moments in the second set and third set-super tiebreak. Kyrgios just made too many errors, but to his credit, he provided the crowd with some excellent shot making and flair.<br \/>\n<a id=\"OSmQOGsBQH9oPagl4wifCg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/853088314\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'OSmQOGsBQH9oPagl4wifCg',sig:'2X_5kFtvo0Ylcqv2VJUL7mkFqmlsYNzsVsuTNVMBeYc=',w:'594px',h:'391px',items:'853088314',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><br \/>\nBoth Federer and Kyrgios went into the match with the competition still firmly in the balance, the aggregate score being 12-9 at that point. A win for Team Europe would have seen them winning the competition overall, but a win for Team World would have seen aggregate scores tied, thus forcing a doubles decider. The crowd was on edge, and the contest proved to be an enthralling one for both players and fans alike.<\/p>\n<h3>Isner produces earlier upset over Nadal<\/h3>\n<p>The final match came after <strong>John Isner<\/strong> pulled off one of the shocks of the tournament by beating <strong>Rafael Nadal<\/strong> in straight sets, 7-5 7-6. Isner\u2019s powerful groundstrokes were too much for Nadal, who struggled to find rhythm during the match, and Isner never allowed him to exploit his great defence to its full potential. His win gave Team World a lifeline in the competition, after <strong>Alexander Zverev<\/strong> put Team Europe within one win of victory, with a 6-4 6-4 win over American <strong>Sam Querrey<\/strong>, in Sunday\u2019s afternoon session.<br \/>\n<a id=\"is7zAwOoSV5C0BO41mIW6w\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/852962944\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'is7zAwOoSV5C0BO41mIW6w',sig:'88wUcrBhXmg1v3y5356RgxdFMlFeGN_Azkfvqya8YK4=',w:'594px',h:'419px',items:'852962944',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><br \/>\nCredit must be given to Team World, who without the injured <strong>Juan Martin Del Potro<\/strong>, assembled mostly as a collective of young, flair players without a <strong>Grand Slam<\/strong> between them. They pushed the vastly more experienced Team Europe right to the wire, and they provided the crowd with more flair and engagement than their European counterparts.<\/p>\n<h3>Experience defeats youth<\/h3>\n<p>In the end, however, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2017\/09\/23\/laver-cup-day-one-recap\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">experience worked<\/a> in Team Europe\u2019s favour. They could rely on the likes of Federer and Nadal to deliver results when they needed it, and their respective contributions off-court were also invaluable. They encouraged and nurtured their less experienced team-mates, and although they possessed less joie de vivre than their opponents from Team World, they got the job done.<br \/>\n<a id=\"nqI1fsOIRZJzst9OQeQ7tQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/853088254\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'nqI1fsOIRZJzst9OQeQ7tQ',sig:'MX1uiRz8_wP2rXTKHIyjX8TygljM7PXn3i8xVuQ09R8=',w:'594px',h:'389px',items:'853088254',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><br \/>\nFollowing its <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2017\/09\/24\/laver-cup-instant-success\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">stint in <strong>Prague<\/strong><\/a>, <strong>Czech Republic<\/strong>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/2017\/09\/11\/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-laver-cup-2017\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Laver Cup<\/a> will now move to <strong>Chicago<\/strong>, where it will be staged in September 2018. A lot can change in a year, but if this week\u2019s performances are anything to go by, then Team World should be feeling confident of victory going into next year, despite this year\u2019s setback.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"g9mSXKvXSKh6swhfUd5R4w\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/853088168\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'g9mSXKvXSKh6swhfUd5R4w',sig:'wdn47Yic3s1MpTXIMYSitJnG6IxnDSB3EnWIkQeTxTk=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'853088168',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Team Europe has won the first ever Laver Cup, beating Team World with an aggregate score of 15-9. Roger Federer claimed the final points for Bjorn Borg\u2019s team, with a 4-6 7-6 11-9 win over Australia\u2019s Nick Kyrgios. Federer sneaks past Kyrgios to seal Laver Cup triumph for Team Europe Federer was not at his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2047,"featured_media":4840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[85,274,2104,412,2064,2094,209,135,114,466],"class_list":["post-4837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atp","category-featured","tag-alexander-zverev","tag-bjorn-borg","tag-chicago","tag-john-isner","tag-laver-cup","tag-laver-cup-2017","tag-nick-kyrgios","tag-rafael-nadal","tag-roger-federer","tag-sam-querrey"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2047"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}