Tien’s win built on the lesson he was taught from the bench on Day 1. “The biggest thing is just knowing that no account is really safe,” the 20-year-old said. “Maybe if you’re down a set and it’s 5-0, it’s over. Most games you have to play, you’re still in the game no matter what the score is. Meetings can turn very quickly.”
They did theirs. “I thought I had a good start. He definitely changed things up a little bit in the second, started getting away from the ball a little bit quicker, started not giving me as much and I was struggling with that a little bit,” Tien said. “But I recovered well in the third set and it was kind of a dogfight in the third.”
Andre Agassi’s reading of it was the most technical response by any captain this weekend. “Cobolli had a slower start. He was trying to damage the Learner and the Learner was absorbing and controlling most of the action,” the Team World captain said.
De Minaur’s escape
“In the second set, the balls got heavy, chewy and difficult to penetrate, so he gave up on it and started rolling it. The learner learned today because he went from taking unnecessary risks to just digging in when it mattered most and relying on the intangibles in tennis, which is your perseverance and your ability to stay present.”
De Minaur’s escape was the more incredible of the two. “I was in a bit of contention and it was looking pretty grim,” the Australian said. “Sasha came out of the blocks firing, hitting the ball very high from both wings and I struggled to find much penetration.” The order from the bench was to survive and annoy. “Do my best to hang in there, try to change it as much as I can. I was able to get a little more returns in the game, change my return position, get different looks and slowly crawled my way into the game.”
It also sparked the only controversy of the day. At match point for a determined Baker, when the screen moved, the call was given to Zverev for another first serve. “The rules are that you have to play twice, but obviously I’d like to play that point on the second serve rather than give him another first serve,” de Minaur said.
That is his right. He can bounce the ball as many times as he wants.
“It was painful, but I did my best not to let it bother me and kind of stay in the moment and I was able to choose the right path and it worked out. So happy days! If it didn’t work out, maybe I would have a different opinion about it.” In the case of Zverev jumping with a long ball, he was even more flattering.
That’s now three wins over Zverev in two years at the Laver Cup and United Cup, and that has delighted his vice-captain. “Bloody hopes it is. That’s huge,” Patrick Rafter said, asking what it was worth to beat one of the two most popular players on the field. “The way he came out, he clearly showed that he is the No. 1 player or becoming the No. 1 player in the world and he wanted to stick it to us and how dare you beat us last year. And you just saw Alex fight. He thrives on it.”
Then came Alcaraz and the balance of the day shifted again. His 13-11 in the third is the longest break of the weekend and the second time in two days that the European No. 1 has closed out a session.
Format, as de Minaur says, does the rest. “Here, the Laver Cup, it’s a little bit different because eventually you have to win a set and a super, right, and it’s more of a coin toss,” he said. “But I just thrive in these kinds of environments. Anytime you can play a little bit more than just yourself, it brings that extra energy.”
The night’s doubles match between Kasper Rude and Zverev against Alexander Bublik and Brandon Nakashima is worth another two points, while Sunday’s three matches are worth three points each, with 13 needed to win the Cup. Tien, for example, has arithmetic in mind. “It’s very important to peak later in the event,” he said. “Days 2 and 3 are the most important assessment.”
