Laver Cup: Flavio Cobolli Fights Hard but Comes Up Empty-Handed; Carlos Alcaraz Cheers Him Up

Flavio Cobolli suffered a loss in Saturday’s first match at the Laver Cup: The Roman, representing Team Europe captained by Yannick Noah, battled to the very end against Learner Tien but ultimately lost to the American in the super tiebreak, handing two points to Team World, captained by non-playing captain Andre Agassi.

The final score was 6-3, 2-6 [10-7] in favor of Tien, who wrapped up the match in one hour and thirty-seven minutes. For Cobolli, however, there remains the satisfaction of having competed on equal footing in a tournament that, while not adding (or subtracting) points from the world rankings, is nonetheless of the highest caliber due to the presence of players of the caliber of Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Alex de Minaur, and Taylor Fritz, among others. Carlos Alcaraz, one of Team Europe’s stars, was the first to console Cobolli immediately after the match ended.

This year marks the ninth edition of the Laver Cup, a tournament modeled after the Ryder Cup in golf that pits two teams against each other: one composed of European players (Team Europe) and the other of players from other continents (Team World). Europe won the first four editions, between 2017 and 2021 (the 2020 edition was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The Rest of the World, on the other hand, has secured the 2022, 2023, and 2025 editions, leaving the 2024 edition to the Europeans.

The format consists of three days of matches, each featuring three singles matches and one doubles match: on the first day, each victory awards one point to the respective team; on the second day, two points; and on the third day, three points. Flavio Cobolli is making his second consecutive appearance (his third if 2024 is included, though he was a reserve that year and did not take the court): in 2025, he played one match against Joao Fonseca, losing in two sets.