Zverev leads Europe to win the Laver Cup and Norris faces cyber abuse after the Azerbaijan incident

German Alexander Zverev continued his brilliance and proved his worth as the best tennis player in the world during the recent period, by contributing to the European team winning the Laver Cup title in London, at the expense of the world team, to give his Spanish rival, Carlos Alcarras, an additional rest.

Alkaras praised the abilities of Zverev, who recently won the French Open and US Open titles before the start of the Laver Cup competitions, which are held in the same Ryder Cup system.

But the German player lost in the doubles competition on Friday, and also wasted several opportunities to win the title against Australian Alex de Minaur on Saturday.

Alkaras restored the momentum to the European team at the end of the second day's competitions, before Zverev teamed up with Norwegian Casper Ruud to win the doubles match, putting the European team only two wins away from clinching the title before the start of Sunday's competitions.

The European team took an additional step closer to the title with the victory of the Italian Flavio Copoli and the Czech Jakub Menchik in the doubles match over the pair of the world team, the American Taylor Fritz and De Minaur, thus paving the way for Zverev to break a series of three consecutive defeats for the European team in the past four editions.

After a difficult confrontation against the promising American, Lerner Tien, who is participating in the Laver Cup for the first time, and despite Alcarras being ready to play an additional match, Zverev decided the confrontation in his favor by winning 7-6 and 6-3, leading the European team to prevail with a score of 13-5, and to win the title in the presence of the Swiss Roger Federer, one of the founders of the tournament.

British driver Lando Norris was subjected to violent electronic abuse on the Internet, after he demanded that Argentine driver Franco Colapinto be suspended from Formula 1 races.

McLaren driver Norris, who is competing for the World Drivers' Championship, demanded that Colapinto be punished after the latter caused a collision involving three cars, forcing the British driver to withdraw from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

But Lando Norris's statements sparked a wave of anger against him on social media, most of it from Colapinto supporters.

Colapinto admitted his responsibility for the accident, and will be subject to a penalty that will drop him 5 places on the starting grid in the next round.

The Alpine team, to which Colapinto belongs, responded to these abuses with an official statement on Sunday, saying: “Talk again about the hatred and electronic abuse that spread after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix race remains necessary, even though the abuse was not directed at us or one of our drivers, but rather targeted the Formula 1 community and our competitors, whom we respect and enjoy competing with.”

The statement added: “We reiterate our denunciation of the reactions of some fans on the Internet, and we stand in solidarity with Formula 1, the International Automobile Federation and the rest of the teams to eliminate this phenomenon, which has become so frequent that it cannot be ignored.”

After his withdrawal from the Azerbaijan race, Norris fell 116 points behind the Italian Kimi Antonelli, who leads the overall standings in the drivers’ championship, dashing the Briton’s hopes of maintaining his title.

On the other hand, the other Briton, George Russell, achieved his third victory this season, reducing the gap over Antonelli’s lead from 81 points to 66 points, knowing that there are 8 rounds remaining this season, and 208 possible points.

Fred Vasseur, president of Ferrari, a competitor in the Formula 1 world championship, described the speculation surrounding his future as “frustrating,” after comments by former Red Bull president Christian Horner, in an interview, sparked rumors about the possibility of the Briton moving to the Italian team.

Horner, who was sacked by Red Bull in July last year, told The Times in an interview published last week that Ferrari would be the only team he would consider joining without the offer including an ownership stake in the team.

He then described the team as “the dream” and “the sleeping giant of Formula 1.”

Vasseur, who took over as Ferrari president in January 2023, said after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday: “We do not work in complete silence. “Firstly, for me, for everyone in the team, and for the media, because 50 percent of the questions are about this topic, I think the situation is a little frustrating.”

Horner, who returned to the Formula 1 circuit during the British Grand Prix a year after his dismissal in 2025, headed the Red Bull team for 20 years.

It led him to win eight World Drivers' Championship titles, four with Sebastian Vettel and the same with Max Verstappen, and six Constructors' Championship titles.

Horner (52 years old) also made headlines in 2024 after a female employee accused him of inappropriate behavior, but he was acquitted of this charge after an investigation.

Speculation has continued about Horner's return to Formula 1 since his dismissal, as the Briton has been particularly linked to the Alpine team, owned by Renault, and the Aston Martin team, which is based in Silverstone.