When Opponents Become Teammates, Everyone Wins At Laver Cup

Team World at the Laver Cup
Team World at the Laver Cup (photo: Henry Nichols/AFP via Getty Images for Laver Cup)

LONDON/WASHINGTON, September 27, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

At the Laver Cup, when opponents become teammates everyone wins. Just ask Learner Tien, who triumphed in his Laver Cup debut Saturday.

Saturday afternoon, Team World’s Tien, ranked No. 13, pulled through a third-set match tie-break to beat World No. 6 Flavio Cobolli of Team Europe and leveled the score at 3-all as Day 2 unfolded at the O2 Arena in London.

By the end of Saturday’s quartet of matches, in which Team World won both of the afternoon tussles and Team Europe prevailed twice in the evening, Team Europe maintained its two-point lead 7-5 going into the final day on Sunday. On the final day, each win is worth three points. The first team to score 13 wins the Laver Cup trophy.

As Saturday’s first match reached its climatic finish, Tien won a thrilling, 31-shot rally on match point to pull through with a 6-3, 2-6, 10-7 victory over the Italian No. 2.

Throughout the one-hour, 35-minute skirmish that commenced the afternoon session, during each changeover, not only was Tien receiving valuable coaching tips from his team captain, Andre Agassi, he was also gaining insightful advice from his teammates such as fellow American Taylor Fritz, who would be on court during the evening session facing current World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz of Team Europe from Spain.

Although Tien shares a spirited rivalry with the World No. 10 Fritz and his other Team World teammates when they are competing on the ATP Tour, this weekend they are putting forth their collective knowledge and wisdom toward a common goal of beating the other team.

The lefty Tien’s victory over Cobolli improved his win-loss record against players inside the Top of the PIF ATP Rankings to 8-8. He put away his victory with a brilliant forehand passing shot winner that drew plenty of applause from both the fans who filled the O2 Arena as well as from Agassi and the rest of his Team World teammates like Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan and Brandon Nakashima of the United States.

“I think in general I can reset pretty well. … I think that’s a big strength of mine,” Tien said during his on-court interview. “In this format, no matter what the score is, I think everyone still has a chance. The match can just turn on a dime, so I think just being able to put the second behind me was really big today.”

During his news conference, while his Team World teammate Alex de Minaur of Australia was on court and pulled through a 2-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9 match tie-break victory over Alexander Zverev of Germany, Tien added: “I thought I got off to a good start, and he definitely changed things up a bit in the second, started taking a little more pace off the ball, started not giving me as much to work with, and I was struggling a bit with that.

“But I just thought I recovered well for the third set, and, you know, just kind of a dog fight in the third, but I’m happy to get through it.”

 

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Agassi, for one, was impressed by the 20-year-old Tien’s gutsy comeback. “It went perfect. Yeah, no, listen, Learner set the tone early,” he said.

“You know, there’s one thing the team has been very relaxed about is knowing exactly what he brings to the table when he steps on the tennis court, and he’s proven it again, and at such a young age, it’s remarkable, actually. It’s actually really remarkable.”

Agassi was quick to add: “Learner learned today, from trying to take unnecessary risk on that to just digging in when it mattered most and counting on the intangible in tennis, which is, you know, which is your persistence and your ability to stay present, to stay focused, you know, and use your mind.

“It’s kind of weird how you just so intuitively believe in somebody when they get in those moments.”

Tien was asked by a reporter what he had learned from Day 1 at the Laver Cup that he was able to apply on Day 2 during his match with Cobolli. He replied: “I think the biggest thing is just knowing that no scoreline is really safe. I think every scoreline – I mean, maybe if you’re down a set and 5-0 or something, it’s over. Most of the score lines that you’re going to be playing through, you’re still in the match no matter what the score is.

“Matches can just turn very fast, and, you know, I maybe had a chance early in the second to kind of get the jump on him and I didn’t really take advantage of it. Suddenly I kind of got killed in the second and we’re in a 10-pointer.

“So, I think just knowing that was really big for today.”

 

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The bottom line accord to Tien is this: “I’ve definitely soaked in a lot just from the older guys. I feel like they’ve just kind of been telling me, you know, matches can really go either way.

“Especially with the format, you know, matches can swing very fast. Anyone can really win from any scoreline.

“You know, it’s very important to peak later in the event. I think Days 2 and 3 are the most important score-wise. And from any scoreline, whether it’s the overall score of the teams or match scores, I think just anything can happen, really.”

Around the Laver Cup – Day 2

Match tie-breaks were part of the fabric in each of the three singles matches during the second day of the Laver Cup competition – and the fans, who filled the O2 Arena for both sessions, showered their heroes with loud applause.

• In the opener, Team World’s Learner Tien of the United States overcame Italy’s Flavio Cobolli of Team Europe, 6-3, 2-6, 10-7 in one hour and 35 minutes. Tien hit 14 winners to offset 45 unforced errors. Points were even at 68-all. Tien’s victory leveled the cumulative tie score at 3-all.

In talking about the match tie-break afterward during his post-match news conference, Tien said: “Once I got into the breaker, I just kind of thought just to make him earn it.

 

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“You know, I’m sure both of us were pretty nervous. I’m sure that both of us going out there and wanting to win for our teams, I’m sure it was going to be a stressful set.

“I just went out there kind of just knowing what to expect a little bit more from the court, from the balls, and just having that more in mind with every point meaning so much.”

• Next, Team World pushed ahead 5-3 after Alex de Minaur of Australia pulled through his match against Germany’s Alexander Zverev, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9, in two hours. The World No. 9 De Minaur, who beat World No. 2 Zverev for the second-straight Laver Cup, struck 20 winners and won 19 of 20 exchanges at the net, but was outpointed by Zverev 75-70.

Afterward, de Minaur praised his teammate Tien. “I think it was amazing to watch Learner just play a great match, put on a great show, and really kind of set the tone for us, for Team World,” he said.

“He’s an incredibly good kid and a great player, so it was a lot of fun watching him make his debut and of course set the tone. So far we’ve been having a pretty good day, so hopefully we can keep it going.”

 

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• In the opening match of the night session, Team Europe’s Carlos Alcaraz eked out a match tie-break win over Taylor Fritz of Team World, 6-3, 4-6, 13-11, in one hour and 50 minutes that tied the team score at 5-all. The Spaniard struck 42 winners and made 30 unforced errors to offset Fritz’s 20 winners and nine unforced errors. He outpointed the American 73-70. Alcaraz won on his second match point and saved a pair of match points from Fritz during the 24-point match tie-break.

“Two great and tough losses today and obviously I was thinking a little bit about last year, [when] we lost every match on Saturday,” Alcaraz said during his on-court interview. “Coming into the match, I was trying not to let it happen again. So, I was kind of nervous at the beginning, I’m not going to lie. But really happy that I took the win at the end.”

Later, during his post-match news conference, Alcaraz said he was appreciative having Team World team captain Yannik Noah and his teammates rally around him with support and encouragement. “Well, it’s great, because they remind me that it’s not a singles match,” he said. “I’m playing for my team. I’m playing for them, as well. And having them, they are always supporting, cheering me up. And seeing them sometimes in those really stressful situations helps me to stay calm and think what I have to do, which is great.

“I’m just really happy for them, and also, I’m really happy to get them the win, because I think it was really important, seeing how the day was going, you know, having this important win, I think, helps the team a lot with the confidence and obviously for the excitement of every match, for doubles and I would say for tomorrow’s match.”

• Finally, in the Day 2-ending doubles match, Team Europe’s Zverev and Casper Ruud pulled out a 6-4, 7-6 (7) victory in 95 minutes over Alexander Bublik and Brandon Nakashima of Team World, which included a 10-minute-plus second-set tie-break.

Ruud and Zverev combined to hit 26 winners, converted two of four break points and outpointed Bublik and Nakashima 75-61.

The win for Team Europe broke a 5-all deadlock and gave them a slender 7-5 lead with 12 points on the table up for grabs in the final day of the Laver Cup. Team Europe needs to capture just six points to win the 2026 Laver Cup.

Day 3 matchups

Day session begins at Noon London Time.

• Flavio Cobolli/Jakub Mensik vs. Alex de Minaur/Taylor Fritz

• Alexander Zverev vs. Learner Tien

• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Alex de Minaur 

• Rafael Jodar vs. Taylor Fritz

 

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By the numbers

With his victory over reigning French Open and US Open champion Alexander Zverev, Alex de Minaur is now 4-8 lifetime against the German No. 1.

“Quotable …”

“What I enjoy most … first of all, I enjoy just being around them. Off the court, even. All these guys are great athletes, both teams. They all have different wiring. They all have different ways that make them special and different challenges that they have to overcome, and sort of learning them is probably the biggest joy.

“But when I’m out there on the court, understanding where you can actually maybe fill in some gaps that could exist and whether it be a psyche or whether it be a strategic thing, you know, but listen, it gets exciting out there.

“You know, I always used to call that stress, not fun, you know what I mean? Now it feels like a little bit more fun than stress, because I know that these guys, you know, are going to take a lot from it, and I have the luxury of hindsight. So, I think I enjoy the idea of being in a hopefully contributive, an environment where I get to enjoy the game more than stress it. I’ve spent a lot of years not enjoying it as much as I should have.”

– Andre Agassi, on what he enjoys the most in his role as team captain of Team World.

 

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