Andy Murray’s joke mocking Team World’s Laver Cup chances backfired after Team Europe fell to their first ever defeat in the competition. Frances Tiafoe sealed a 13-8 win for World on Sunday. It was Roger Federer’s last tournament in professional tennis however his farewell appearance was not enough to stop Europe slumping to a defeat, the prospect of which the Scot had laughed off before the tournament.
Team Europe had entered the final day of the event in a strong position having taken an 8-4 lead into the final day by winning three out of four of Saturday’s ties. However, each match was worth three points on Sunday and Team World were able to claim victory with a match to spare after winning all of the first three ties.
It was Tiafoe who completed the victory for Team World having beaten Stefanos Tsitsipas via a tie-breaker despite losing the first set to the world No 6. The American had been the brunt of Murray’s jokes ahead of the tournament but it was he who had the last laugh over the two-time Wimbledon champion.
On Thursday Murray posted a picture of himself and Tiafoe laughing on his Instagram story with the caption: “@bigfoe1998 reaction when I said Team World have a chance this weekend.” The post was coupled with a shrugging emoji suggesting he rated his opposition’s chances as slim.
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Speaking on Sunday, after he had time to process the end of his long career, the 41-year-old admitted he had not expected to cry so much but insisted the moment was ‘beautiful.
“Of course was emotional,” he told Eurosport. “I didn’t expect myself to be this emotional funnily enough because I really thought I had dealt with it plenty of times beforehand. Of course, you add the atmosphere to it, you add the music to it everything was perfect, everything was beautiful.”
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