“Game on, baby!” – How Ruud’s win has sparked the Laver Cup into life
With Casper Ruud putting Team Europe on the board in this year’s Laver Cup, the side are now targeting a 6-6 score line by the end of day two
Heading into the sixth match of the Laver Cup, Team Europe were sitting at an 0-6 deficit, with Team World having won all four matches on day one, and picked up the opening match of day two as well.
Lose here, and an 0-8 score line would be tough to come back from. Thankfully, world No 9 Casper Ruud brough his best tennis, knocking off Tommy Paul in straight sets to claim Team Europe’s first Laver Cup points, and peg back Team World’s lead to 6-2.
Now, Team Europe are hot on the comeback trail, with both Ruud and vice-captain Thomas Enqvist confident that the team can continue their momentum on day two of the Laver Cup.
Team Europe targeting 6-6 score line by end of day two
Speaking after his victory over Tommy Paul, Casper Ruud has emphasised how important it was for Team Europe to get on the board at this stage of the tournament.
“[It] was very important for us to get this win. 0-8 heading into evening session wouldn’t be fun for Europe. Definitely I think game on again.”
As quickly as Team Europe gained their first points, the group is already looking ahead to how they can further reduce Team World’s lead, or even better, level the scores this evening.
“The goal obviously is to try to win two out of two matches this evening for us. Getting it back to 6-All would be incredible going into Sunday. Even, if you think about it, one out of two would also be very interesting for tomorrow. We’re only four points behind potentially. Every match being three points tomorrow, anything can happen.”
With the Laver Cup being won by the first team to reach 13 points, every single edition since the event was introduced in 2017 has gone to the final Sunday, where the points are worth triple.
Ruud win grabs important momentum for Team Europe
Heading into the final two matches of day two, Casper Ruud is pleased to have ruffled a few feathers on the Team World bench.
“I think the Team World bench were looking a bit too comfortable at times there this morning, so I’m happy to turn it around,” said Ruud with a grin. “Hopefully that can kind of shift momentum a little bit.”
Despite the fact that Team Europe had lost all of matches on day one, Ruud explained that the team wasn’t feeling too much pressure heading into the second day of the Laver Cup.
“I told the guys yesterday in the locker room, Come on, I mean, we’re 0-4 down, we lost four matches today, but 30% of the points have been given out. So don’t worry. It’s still a long way to go for World if they want to win.
“For us, we are not that far behind, continued the Norwegian. “Like I said, just one out of two this evening, if we get one each, it’s only four points, and the triple points for tomorrow is going to be huge.
“I don’t want to talk about it, but if we were to lose these two matches tonight will be maybe different story, but we will keep our heads up. We saw last year how they clutched up and won three matches in a row on Sunday, Team World, and kind of clinched a win there.
“Even if we are coming from behind tomorrow, we can think about what they did last year and, yeah, it won’t be over until it’s over on Sunday.”
In the last edition of the Laver Cup, Team World snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, defeating Team Europe 13-8 after winning nine straight points to come back from 4-8 behind at the start of day three.
