Laver Cup debut ends in defeat for Andy
ANDY MURRAY was finally back at London’s o2 Arena last night, a long time on from when his career arguably reached his peak. At the end of 2016 he beat Novak djokovic here to claim the year-end world No 1 position. That turned out to be the high water mark and, many physical struggles later, he returned on the undercard for roger Federer’s farewell, and found himself locked in Laver Cup battle with Australian Alex de Minaur, a protracted struggle that ended in a 7-5, 3-6, 10-7 defeat for the Scot. Murray was trying to deny the speedy Australian a first point on the board for Team World against Team europe ahead of what was, unusually, a doubles match in the role of the main event. It is the 35-year-old Scot’s first outing in the Laver Cup, as a Captain’s pick whose selection had the distinct look of being through his appeal to the public rather on merit — as it once would have been.
Murray has experienced just about everything in the game but never before will he have had Novak djokovic coming up to him at changeovers to offer advice. early on last night he reminded him that he had better shots than de Minaur and to focus on that. That was certainly Murray’s advantage for he could not match the movement of the Australian, among the very quickest players on tour. The issue for Murray was yet another court of deathly slow speed, and trying to penetrate it. After 82 minutes of hard slog he finally drew a double fault to take the opening set. All the while the behind-thescenes video footage, a slick innovation of this event, was showing Federer and Nadal watching in the team room. This week the Swiss has remarked on how slow modern court surfaces are, and here was more evidence, forcing him and his adoring army of fans to wait late into the evening for his valedictory appearance. Through de Minaur the World team,
captained by john mcenroe, was trying to equal their whole tally of this competition a year ago, when they were thrashed 14-1 by the europeans, who have not lost this match in four previous editions. earlier Casper Ruud had been pushed close in a deciding tiebreak by american jack sock, in the team more for his doubles prowess. after that stefanos Tsitsipas seemed to emphasise the overall gulf between the two teams when he allowed argentinian diego schwartzman just three games. The defining feature of the Tsitsipas match was the invasion by a protester who briefly started a fire before being hauled away. ‘It came out of nowhere,’ said the greek. ‘I have no idea what it’s all about. I never had an incident like this happen on court, so I hope he’s alright.’