Bill Simons
Every year Europe seemed to add insult to injury. As the tennis season wound down, they’d emphasize their unwavering dominance by rubbing salt in the wounds of American men’s tennis that hadn’t claimed a Slam title since 2003, which hadn’t had a Slam finalist since 2009, or won the Davis Cup since 2007.
In 2021, in Boston, Team Europe humiliated Team World, which, as usual, was led by Americans, 14-1. Ouch.
Then, early at the 2022 Laver Cup in London, the spiritual leader of the Big 3, Roger Federer, was joyously lifted on the shoulders of his comrades as the great man retired.
His departure seemed to offer a sliver of American hope. Team World immediately scored its first Laver Cup win, then in 2023 backed it up with another victory in Vancouver.
This year, Team World, dominated by Americans, raced to an 11-7 lead and then was just one set away from scoring a third straight Laver Cup win.
Earlier in the year, Frances Tiafoe had admitted he’d been losing to “a lot of clowns.” But, since reaching the Washington final and working with coach David Witt, the US Open semifinalist surged. So never mind that he’d only beaten his foe, world No. 2 Sascha Zverev, once in eight matches, and that the German would be playing on his home court in Berlin.
Tiafoe, 26, offered his singular quirky brew of inventive athleticism, power shots, subtle slices and delicate net play as he sprinted to a 7-6, 4-2 lead, just two games from triumph over a player known for his inexplicable shortfalls at big moments. Americans anticipated savoring the sweet taste of Laver Cup success. John McEnroe would later tell us that he was thinking, “the champagne was in our room…Maybe I was jumping to conclusions…I was going out [winning] three in a row.”
But Tiafoe faltered. His focus wavered. His drop shots were sitting ducks. Towards the end of the second set he meekly lost his serve, and then, without much of a fight, he went away deep into the deciding tiebreak. As Sascha stepped up, Frances lost five points in a row and fell 5-7, 7-5, 10-5 to the best player in the world who’s never won a Slam and the best player in Laver Cup history.
The narrow tunnels deep within sporting arenas can be long, lonely corridors. Sixteen days ago, the devastated Tiafoe, who’d just fallen to Taylor Fritz in the US Open semis, slowly walked arm-in-arm with his agent Jill Smoller down an isolated walkway in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Their unmistakable sorrow was poignant.
Today there was no, “I’ve got your back” walk with a friend. Tiafoe just smashed his racket and left the court in solitude, knowing that another chance to be a grand hero had eluded him. Now, it would be TaylorFritz’s chance. The No. 7 in the world, who’d lost his only previous match against four-time Slam champ Carlos Alcaraz, would have Team World’s fate in his hands.
But for much of the year, it was the Spaniard who seemed to have tennis in the palms of his hands. But the 2024 French Open and Wimbledon winner and the Olympic silver medalist had been struggling of late. The seemingly ascendent Spaniard suffered the Grand Slam upset of the year when Botic van de Zandschulp beat him at the US Open.
Surprisingly, he seemed adrift, saying “I’ve taken steps backwards mentally …I’m not strong. I don’t know how to control myself…I have to see what’s going on. It’s been a very emotional summer…I’ve had my moments of disconnection…I need more time. I have to get to know myself…Maybe I’m the kind of person who…demands too much of himself mentally.”
May we beg to differ?
In Berlin’s Uber Arena, the best 21-year-old in the history of tennis was uber good. On a slow, grainy gray court, the Spaniard displayed his speed, defense and mind-boggling variety that today included an overhead drop shot, a no-look forehand and a volley winner from the baseline. And, as he swept to a 6-2, 2-1 lead, accolades flowed.
“He’s in the zone. This is ridiculous,” said Jim Courier. “Utterly audacious, it’s so good,” added Jason Goodall.
But Fritz is a brave, smart warrior. “He’s almost a scientist in sneakers,” said Goodall. “He’s got an incredible brain.” And the Californian, as he’d done in the US Open final against the No. 1 player in the world, Jannik Sinner, battled fiercely. He took pain killers to deal with a bum shoulder and broke back and came within two points of the second set.
But one of Alcaraz’s great strengths is his ability to step up at crunch time. The astonishing wonderkind counterattacked, scoring a 6-2, 7-5 victory. The third win of the day for Team Europe gave Captain Bjorn Borg his fifth and final Laver Cup, and left John McEnroe to tell Team Europe, “You are pissing me off – but that’s okay.”
What was more than okay was America’s summer of success that saw four US players reach the US Open semis. Yet, for the third time in just over two weeks, Americans fell short of great glory. Fritz and Jessica Pegula both lost in competitive but straight-set losses in their US Open finals. And Team World’s loss today could also be said to be close and, then again, decisive. The crushing reality hurt. Team World lost three of the four matches today.
Still, for the first time since 1997, the US has five players in the top 20: – Fritz (#7), Tommy Paul (#13), Seb Korda (#15), Ben Shelton (#16) and Frances Tiafoe (#17).
For American tennis, the sporting ethos of strength in numbers has clearly kicked in. Our top men and women are pushing each other. Optimistic takes come to mind: “A new day is coming,” “Victory is just around the corner” – yes?
But when it comes to monumental breakthroughs, unless the USA scores a surprising Davis Cup win or Fritz manages a shock victory at the ATP Championships, fans of American men’s tennis will have to say, “wait ‘til next year.”
