Laver Cup: Cobolli knocked out with Fonseca, but Team Europe smiles anyway with Alcaraz and Mensik
The first day of the Laver Cup, the competition that pits a selection of Europe’s best players against the “rest of the world”, ended with Team Europe leading by three points to one. Among the stars of the day were Casper Ruud and Jakub Mensik, who gave Europe its first two points against Reilly Opelka and Alex Michelsen, as well as Carlos Alcaraz who, paired with Mensik himself, beat Michelsen and Taylor Fritz in doubles.
Team World’s point on the indoor concrete of San Francisco, home of the 2025 edition, came against the only Italian in the competition, Flavio Cobolli: the current world number 25 was in fact defeated by Brazilian Joao Fonseca in two sets, 6-4, 6-3, at the end of a match that lasted just under an hour and a half.
At the tail end of the match between the Italian and South American tennis players was the doubles match, which saw Carlos Alcaraz and Jakub Mensik beat Taylor Fritz and Alex Michelsen 7-6(9), 6-4 in a decidedly intense match that lasted one’hour and three quarters. However, the particular Laver Cup rules do not allow Team Europe to relax too much: as many as 20 total points are still available between now and the end of the competition.
If in the first day each victory is worth one point, in fact, in the second it is worth two and in the third and last even three. Everything is still to be decided, then, with the two captains (Yannick Noah for Team Europe and Andre Agassi for Team World) having to decide who to send on the court to extend the lead or, on the other side, make the comeback.
Team Europe (which in addition to captain Noah boasts Tim Henman as deputy) consists of Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Holger Rune, Casper Ruud, Jakub Mensik and Flavio Cobolli, with Tomas Machac as designated reserve. There is no Jannik Sinner, who preferred to focus on other appointments for this season finale. Instead, Team World (which has Pat Rafter as Agassi’s deputy) will field Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur, Fransisco Cerundolo, Alex Michelsen, Joeo Fonseca and Reilly Opelka, with Jenson Brooksby ready to take over if a starter is unavailable.
This year’s is the eighth edition of the Laver Cup, a competition that made its debut in 2017 in Prague, played every year (except 2020, due to pandemic) alternating home courts between Europe and North America. Team Europe is the defending champion and boasts five overall wins, while Team World has won twice, in 2022 (an edition famous for being the stage for Roger Federer’s last official match) and 2023.
