Alexander Zverev leads Team Europe to victory at the Laver Cup

Germany's tennis star Alexander Zverev led Team Europe to a prestigious victory against the world team at the Laver Cup. The world number two scored the decisive points for his team with the 7:6 (7:3), 6:3 in London against the American Learner Tien. In the ninth edition of the show event, Europe triumphed for the sixth time.

Zverev had a lot of trouble against Tien and at times seemed annoyed by his opponent's clever style of play and the gray surface in the London arena. US star Taylor Fritz said to Tien about Zverev during a break: “He is so frustrated.” But the two-time Grand Slam tournament winner recovered and impressed in the tiebreak of the first set and in the second round.

This is the Laver Cup

The Laver Cup - named after the Australian tennis icon Rod Laver - is a show event, but is taken seriously by the protagonists. It was launched in 2017 by former superstar Roger Federer and takes place annually. A team made up of the best European players competes against a team made up of the best players from the rest of the world.

The captain of Team Europe is currently the French ex-professional Yannick Noah, Team World is coached by the former number one Andre Agassi from the USA. World ranking points are not awarded here.

Zverev's chance of number one has increased

Nevertheless, Zverev came a little closer to his big goal of being number one in the tennis world. The current leader Jannik Sinner announced on Friday that he would not take part in the ATP tournament in Beijing due to persistent knee problems. As a result, the defending champion cannot defend his 500 points from last year. The Italian also has significantly more points to defend in the remaining tournaments until the end of the season compared to Zverev.