The Laver Cup was a highlight for the participating players.But how did the professionals from Europe and the world cope with the days of Prague?
Like nothing happened.The official ATP statistics cover the match that John Isner and Rafael Nadal played in the Laver Cups less than two weeks ago.But from the point of view of the US-American, this would be quite significant: Isner Nadal has never been able to defeat Nadal on the ATP tour.Six attempts, six bankruptcies, the to date last 2015 in Rome.And the prospects of his first victory against the ten-time French Open champ are not good on Friday in the Beijing quarter-finals either.From the perspective of John Isner himself.
He had taken a close look at Nadal’s match against Karen Khachanov and was impressed by the strength of his future opponent.The Americans explained this after a match in which they had shown themselves to be great players, namely Leonardo Mayer who won 6:0 and 6:3 against Hamburg.
Runs for Nadal and Isner in Beijing, as well as for two other Laver Cup participants: Alexander Zverev, after his two-set win against Fabio Fognini, is in the round of the last eight as well as Nick Kyrgios, who won against Zverev, the elder, in round two.
So everything’s okay?No Laver Cup hangover?Well, Tomas Berdych, the host in Prague, had to admit defeat to Andrey Rublev in round two in Beijing.Dominic Thiem has lost both games after the extravagance with Team Europa: in Chengdu against Guido Pella, in Tokyo against Steve Johnson.Marin Cilic, also a European team player, is better than Thiem in Japan’s capital city, and is in the quarter-finals.
Grandmaster Roger Federer will be back in Shanghai next week, as well as Denis Shapovalov, the chick in the world team.The Canadian might have liked to serve again, but he was not allowed to.His placeings in the world rankings, which were even more modest at the closing date for Tokyo, were due to him.At the penultimate ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the year, Shapovalov will be awarded a wildcard.
Sam Querrey had to drop his sails in Tokyo in lap one.Against Richard Gasquet, who of course knows how to grab the bat properly.Companion Frances Tiafoe, surprise guest of John McEnroe in Prague, did not even make it this far – he was defeated in the second qualifying round by Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece.