The young players have no chance of sharing the same side of the pitch with legendary players and their idols. Stefanos Tsitsipas teamed up with 20-time major winner Roger Federer at the Laver Cup 2019 in Geneva and described the experience as the “dream of all millennials”!
Tsitsipas and Federer played Jack Sock and John Isner and suffered a 5-7, 6-4, 10-8 loss in an hour and 46 minutes to put Team World 8-7 ahead after the first match of the last day .
Instead of Rafael Nadal, who retired with a wrist injury, Tsitsipas stepped in for the first time to play with Roger Federer, doing their best to beat the American pair but just missing out in the crucial match tie-break.
There were two breaks on either side and Jack and John stayed focused in the crucial moments, fending off six of the eight chances Roger and Stefano were given and controlling the pace in the crucial set.
Tsitsipas and Federer played doubles at the Laver Cup 2019
Federer held his serve in the first game with a service winner, followed by a comfortable service game from Isner that tied the score to 1-1 before the Americans broke the European team when Federer made a volleyball mistake.
Roger and Stefanos immediately recovered from the break when Isner landed a long volley and Federer fired an ace to win the next game by a 3-2 lead. John held his serve in the sixth game after two deuces, and we saw five powerful service games after that before Sock served 5-6.
The Americans missed their chances and had to insert a break after Federer’s volley winner when Team Europe won the first set 7-5 in 45 minutes. Isner made an incredible reaction on the net in the third game of the second set to earn a break for Team World and Jack fought off a break chance in the next game to confirm the lead and put them in a comfortable position.
With a 5-4 serve for the set, Isner defended two break chances and sealed the set with an ace to send the match into the match tie-breaker. The Americans took a 7-4 lead before Federer returned with two winners to keep his team in touch and to keep the crowd on the edge of their seats.
Jack responded with a service winner before Roger crushed a forehand winner to bring the deficit down to 8-7 and add excitement. Socks Return winner pushed the red squad 9: 7 ahead, and Federer saved the first match point after a volley winner on the net.
Isner landed a massive serve against Tsitsipas on the 18th point to seal the deal and put Team World in the lead for the first time in three days before the remaining three matches.
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