Anderson and Sock Beat Federer and Djokovic, Team Europe Leads Team World 3-1 After Day One of Laver Cup
(September 21, 2018) CHICAGO – In the marquee match of the day on Friday at Laver Cup, the Team Europe doubles pair of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic lost to Team World’s Jack Sock and Kevin Anderson 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-6 in the last match of the evening session.
Although it was the first doubles match that they had ever played together, the pair played well. One gaffe came when Djokovic hit a shot that hit Federer in the back during the third game of the match.
“I apologized right away,” Djokovic said in their news conference. “It didn’t look that great.”
“It was a lot of fun. I want to thank Roger for playing with me,” Djokovic said. “I loved it. Obviously I wanted to win as much as Roger. But those guys came up with some big shots.”
It was a first-time pairing for Anderson and Sock as well.
“Obviously Jack has had a lot of success in doubles. Yeah, I have always felt pretty good as a doubles player,” Anderson said.
“I feel like especially playing for the first time, which is always a little bit tricky, you know, we gelled really quickly right from the start, I think it was a really good match to get through.”
“Obviously I have a lot of confidence in the doubles court now,” Sock said. “Kind of go out and play pretty loose, have fun.
“When you’re playing with a guy like Kevin with a bunch of weapons, takes the ball early, hits big return, which helps me at the net, I can kind of move around and be active up there, he has a cannon of a serve which makes my job easier at the net, and obviously great hands, as well, as you saw out there in some of those exchanges.”
It was Team Europe’s only loss of the day.
In the first match of the night session, in a vary-back-and-forth contest, David Goffin saved two match points, in defeating Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 4-6, 11-9. Schwartzman had battled his way back from a 2-6 deficit to a 9-7 lead in the match tiebreak. Goffin won the next four straight points for the win.
“The match, well, it was great,” said Goffin. “Great atmosphere. Some good moments in the match where I was playing really well. It was not easy, not easy with this atmosphere. It was fantastic. The noise and the crowd behind Diego tonight was just amazing.
“I had to stay really focused and was not easy to finish the match with 7-3 in the super-tiebreak. Saved match points. So I’m really happy to give one point to Team Europe.”
Grigor Dimitrov opened the day session with a straight forward straight sets win over Frances Tiafoe. Kyle Edmund followed by defeating Jack Sock in match tiebreak.
Laver Cup Day 1 Results
Team Europe Grigor Dimtrov beats Team World Frances Tiafoe 6-1, 6-4
Team Europe Kyle Edmund beats Team World Jack Sock 6-4, 5-7, 10-6
Team Europe David Goffin beats Team World Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 Goffin saved 2 match points
Team World Kevin Anderson/Jack Sock beats Team Europe Roger Federer/Novak Djokovic 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-6
September 22, 2018 Day 2 Order of Play
Team World vs. Team Europe
Day Session 1 PM
John Isner vs. Alexander Zverev
Nick Kygios vs. Roger Federer
Night Session 7PM
Kevin Anderson vs. Novak Djokovic
Jack Sock/Nick Kyrgios vs. David Goffin/Grigor Dimitrov
On day 2, each match will be worth two points.
