While Friday night at the Laver Cup is all about Roger Federer’s farewell doubles match, there was some other tennis played on Friday.
Team Europe, which has won the four previous editions of this invitation-only showcase and is heavily favored to do so again, got off to a great start in the first two afternoon matches. First, Casper Ruud outlasted Team World’s Jack Sock, 6-4, 5-7, (10-7) in singles, a match in which he started strongly, wavered briefly and then pulled away thanks to consecutive Sock errors in the tiebreaker. (The Laver Cup uses a 10-point tiebreaker instead of a third set.