Carlos Alcaraz's rise, Daniil Medvedev's fall: Five Things We Learned from 2024 Laver Cup

As Carlos Alcaraz walked out to take on Taylor Fritz in the winner-take-all Laver Cup finale on Sunday, I thought the result would depend on whether the Spaniard could make it through two full sets without his game falling off the table.

The answer, it turned out, was yes—barely. After 12 matches, and a marathon-length 25 hours of tennis, Alcaraz’s ability to keep it together just long enough against Fritz is what ultimately decided the seventh edition of this competition. His 6-2, 7-5 win capped a final-day comeback by Team Europe, and clinched its fifth Cup victory.

As always, the 2024 Laver Cup in Berlin was about much more than the result. It gave fans a lot to watch and hear and think about over the course of three days, as we got our annual glimpse of the game’s current and former stars talking tactics together on the sidelines, and up in the commentator’s booth.

An event as sprawling as this one deserves an eclectic round-up. Here are five things we learned from the long weekend at the Uber Arena.

On-court coaching has limits

Nowhere else do the we hear as much coaching as we do in Laver Cup. Some of it is useful, some of it detrimental, and some of it surprising.

I wouldn’t have expected to hear Grigor Dimitrov and Casper Ruud, two guys who like to construct points patiently, urge their teammates, over and over, to blast the ball and let the chips fall where they may. On Friday, Ruud told Alcaraz and Zverev to “just rip your returns” straight at Fritz and “scare him.” On Sunday, Dimitrov told the German to “just hit and go, whatever happens, happens.” Zverev, probably for good reason, ignored him.

But it was something Dimitrov said to Ruud that reminded me that coaching doesn’t always mesh well with the fast-paced reality and split-second decisions required in tennis. He told Ruud, during the Norwegian’s Friday match against Francisco Cerundolo, that one of his slices down the middle had been effective. In the next game, Ruud twice looked as if he was thinking about Dimitrov’s observation. On one point, he hit a backhand straight down the middle…but he left it short and Cerundolo belted it for a winner. On the next point, Ruud tried a slice forehand return down the middle…and it floated long. Neither was a normal shot for Ruud, and neither worked.

The pros all have good and well-practiced instincts—ultimately, that’s what they live by. Outside advice is helpful only if it doesn’t get in the way of those instincts.

Grand Slam rivals can turn into teammates and friends

Novak Djokovic has talked about the “huge emotions” that he, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal felt when they saw each other in the locker room before their major finals. Each wanted the same thing, and each knew how devastating it would be if the other one got it. It was hard for them to be friends because of it—they were rivals first.

So it was interesting this weekend to see Alcaraz and Zverev, who slugged it out in a five-set Roland Garros final this spring, team up in doubles for Team Europe. The same went for Shelton, Tiafoe, and Fritz. The three Americans had fought through a pair of emotional five-set matches at the US Open just a few weeks ago—Tiafoe beat Shelton, and then Fritz beat Tiafoe. Yet here they were, laughing and joking and helping each other on the sidelines for Team World.

When Fritz was losing to Alcaraz on Sunday, Tiafoe advised his teammate that “there’s something to be said for hanging around.” Then he put his face an inch from Fritz’s and laughed. “Hanging around,” of course, is exactly how Fritz beat Tiafoe at the Open.

It wasn’t always the case, as Djokovic said, that the top men could change roles like this and leave their wars behind. This generation is showing us that, yes, rivalries are intense, but they’re also temporary. It’s the friendships that are permanent.

Daniil Medvedev brought out the worst in himself and the best in his American opponents

Is Laver Cup for real? It certainly seemed to be for Medvedev on Sunday. During a second-set tiebreaker with Ben Shelton, the Russian lost a point, then briefly lost his mind. He turned toward the side of the court and bounced his racquet into the stands at high speed. Luckily for him, his frame careened into an empty seat. If it had hit a person, he would have been defaulted; instead, Medvedev was given a warning for  unsportsmanlike conduct. If anything, the moment helped him. He relaxed, Shelton was distracted, and Medvedev came back to win the set in a tiebreaker.

While Medvedev used that moment to his advantage, he couldn’t keep the momentum going. In fact, he spent the weekend allowing his two U.S. opponents, Shelton and Tiafoe, to gradually build their own momentum and confidence, and ride them to surprising victories.

Laver Cup’s slow, low-bouncing surface had seemed to be tailor-made for Medvedev’s scrambling style and low-trajectory shots. Perhaps knowing that, Tiafoe and Shelton took the fight to him, and ended up playing some of the best, most clutch tennis of their careers.

Yet Medvedev wasn’t completely shut out. One of the beauties of Laver Cup is that you have plenty of chances to contribute. Medvedev went 0-2 as a player, but on Sunday, he could be heard giving Zverev advice in Russian on how to play Tiafoe. Zverev was engaged with what Medvedev was saying, and after hearing it, he turned the match around and gave Team Europe a must-have victory.

Laver Cup was at its competitive and redemptive best on Sunday

Once upon a time, I thought Laver Cup’s scaled scoring system—wins count for one point on Friday, two points on Saturday, and three points on Sunday—was gimmicky. But there’s no denying that it keeps things interesting on Sundays. Team World came in to the final day with an 8-4 lead, only to see Team Europe narrow it to 8-7 with one doubles victory.

That’s when things got interesting. The next two singles matches—Medvedev vs. Shelton and Zverev vs. Tiafoe—were the tensest and at times chippiest contests of the weekend. They mattered.

Medvedev chucked his racquet, and then Shelton, who had lost in singles the day before, found his gutsiest and most efficient attacking tennis, and won a hotly contested and well-played match tiebreaker.

Zverev, who had lost in doubles on Friday and singles on Saturday, fell behind a set and a break to Tiafoe, and put Team Europe two games from defeat. Then he found another offensive gear, and came back to win, also in a match-tiebreaker.

Alcaraz made his debut—and became The Man right away

Laver Cup needed Alcaraz if it was going to keep its elite, star-studded status, and he delivered. Not with his coaching or cheerleading—I can’t really remember much of what he said on the sidelines—but with the way he stepped right into his role as the new closer for Team Europe.

Alcaraz’s flashy, personable style and demeanor are made for Laver Cup, and he gave us his expected share of gobsmacking circus shots over the weekend. But with his straight-set wins over Shelton on Saturday and Fritz in the finale one Sunday, Alcaraz also claimed his rightful spot at the top of the ATP totem pole. He’s The Man, and his teammates and opponents looked happy to acknowledge it.