John McEnroe would like the Laver Cup to gain more attention and thinks it is a mistake on the part of the ATP circuit to hold regular tournaments that conflict with this three-day event.
Captain Björn Borg’s European Team won the event for the fourth time in a row when they took an insurmountable 14-1 lead over Team World, led by McEnroe, Sunday afternoon at TD Boston Garden.
“That’s my personal opinion, but I don’t think there should be tournaments at the same time if they want to try to bring it to the Ryder Cup level, for example. It has to generate all the attention, ”said McEnroe, referring to the team golf tournament that was also presented over the weekend.
“You cannot say ‘Other players must be able to play and […] collect their points at [tournoi] in Kazakhstan or wherever it is ”. I don’t agree with that. I think this is a mistake on the part of ATP. “
McEnroe noted that Roger Federer (whose management company is the driving force behind the Laver Cup) and Rod Laver (holder of 11 Grand Slam titles and in whose honor the event was named) are involved.
“Still, it’s hard to get the kind of respect that I think he deserves,” added McEnroe. ” That saddens me. “
Even without Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic in their lineup, Team Europe won eight of the nine games on a hard court which McEnroe said was too slow.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev, Olympic gold medalist in the Tokyo Games singles tournament, and Russian Andrey Rublev gave Team Europe an insurmountable lead when they defeated Canadian Denis Shapovalov and American Reilly Opelka 6- 2, 6-7 (4), 10-3 in the first game of the day.
In the decisive super break, Zverev and Rublev won four of the first five points and scored four more in a row to give themselves an 8-2 lead.
Three singles duels were to follow, including that between Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime and Zverev, but Team Europe had already surpassed the threshold of 13 points necessary to win the trophy.
The wins were worth one point on Friday, two points on Saturday and three points on Sunday.
Shapovalov contributed to Team World’s lone point when he and American John Isner defeated Zverev and Matteo Berrettini on Friday night.
Team Europe also won this tournament in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Each time, it had been able to count on Federer and Nadal or Djokovic. The event was not presented in 2020 due to the pandemic of coronavirus.
In addition to Zverev, Rublev and Berrettini, Team Europe included in its ranks the Russian Daniil Medvedev, recent winner of the United States Open, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, finalist at the French Open, as well as the Norwegian Casper Ruud. These six players are all in the top 10 of the ATP rankings.
Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman and Australia’s Nick Kyrgios were the other two members of Team World. Auger-Aliassime is the best ranked of the group, while he occupies the 11e rank, one step ahead of Shapovalov.
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