In the opening match of the 2022 Laver Cup, Casper Ruud defeated Jack Sock 6-4 5-7 10-7 to give Team Europe its first victory.
Before Carlos Alcaraz’s victory, Ruud, who was representing Team Europe, had the potential to overtake Carlos Alcaraz as the world’s top player at the US Open.
Sock of Team World was behind 1-0 after the Norwegian won the first game after holding his serve.
Sock was down 3-0 after three games, and team coach John McEnroe was trying to boost morale from the sidelines.
At the O2, London, the temperature was described as “cold,” as Sock rallied to a 4-2 deficit.
The American then ran lightly across the court to put himself 40-0 up on Ruud’s serve, then finished the break to put him 5-4 down, but he was unable to mount a comeback to prevent the Europeans from winning a set. As a result, Rafael Nadal and the rest of Team World were brought to their feet.
In the second set, Ruud took the opening game, but the match was considerably closer since the European lacked vigor and Sock kept up with his own serving strategy.
Ruud seemed to lose his focus in the 11th frame of the second set, as a string of double faults allowed Sock to push his advantage and break to go up 6-5 and eventually win 7-5.
As a result, the match was decided by a 10-point tie-break.
Sock quickly took a 3-0 lead by using his backhand down the line. However, a tweener set him up for what appeared to be a routine overhead shot that he sent into the net, giving Sock a 3-2 advantage over Ruud.
Since neither player was quite ruthless enough to end the match early, Ruud fought to a 10-7 victory. That mistake appeared to shake Sock as Ruud advanced to go 8-6 up.
