Alcaraz and Zverev inspire Europe to regain Laver Cup
Europe have fought back to win their first Laver Cup for three years after Carlos Alcaraz produced some brilliant tennis to beat Taylor Fritz 6-2 7-5 in the deciding rubber in Berlin.
The win gave Europe a 13-11 success on Sunday after they had been behind to Team World for the whole of the final day in the men's tennis equivalent of golf's Ryder Cup.
"It's great, obviously we came here with a goal, all of us, that is to win the Laver Cup," said the 21-year-old Spaniard Alcaraz.
"It's really difficult to watch the matches from outside, you know, a lot of nerves, killing us."
Europe, captained by Bjorn Borg, won the first four editions but John McEnroe's Team World, which featured Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, had triumphed in the last two.
Zverev set the ball rolling after he had earlier belied a previous illness in a comeback win over Frances Tiafoe.
Zverev wowed his home fans at Berlin's Uber Arena by battling to a 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 (10-5) victory in a match tie-break, less than a day after he had lost to Taylor Fritz while complaining of fever.
American Ben Shelton shrugged off losing the doubles to go straight back out to beat Europe's Daniil Medvedev 6-7 (6-8) 7-5 (10-7) in the match breaker.
The World led 11-7 at that stage but three points for a win on day three compared to two on Saturday and one on Friday proved crucial.
Europe's Alcaraz and Casper Ruud had previously combined to beat Shelton and Tiafoe 6-2 7-6 (8-6) in the doubles to cut the World's lead to 8-7 at the start of the final day of the three-day tournament.