Tiafoe upsets Medvedev: 'I felt like I was Roger Federer, honestly'

pa href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/frances-tiafoe/td51/overview'Frances Tiafoe/a caught such fire on Saturday in Berlin that he felt like he was a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/roger-federer/f324/overview'Roger Federer/a./p

pThat form helped the Team World player rally past Team Europersquo;s a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniil-medvedev/mm58/overview'Daniil Medvedev/a 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 to give his side a 4-2 lead in Berlin. a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a later levelled for Team Europe with a victory against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ben-shelton/s0s1/overview'Ben Shelton/a./p

pldquo;Honestly I just started having fun. Laughing with my team, laughing with my team over there and here. Just having a bit of fun and started really finding my rhythm,rdquo; Tiafoe said. ldquo;The courts are obviously much slower than Irsquo;m used to playing on, so itrsquo;s tough playing Daniil on this court. But after the second set, midway into the second and in the tie-break, I felt like I was a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/roger-federer/f324/overview'Roger Federer/a, honestly.rdquo;/p

blockquote class="twitter-tweet"

p lang="en" dir="ltr"Team World back on top ????a href="https://twitter.com/FTiafoe?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@FTiafoe/a with an impressive 3-6 6-4 [10-5] victory over Medvedev.a href="https://twitter.com/LaverCup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@LaverCup/a | a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LaverCup?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#LaverCup/a a href="https://t.co/ZeRI2ycna8"pic.twitter.com/ZeRI2ycna8/a/p

mdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1837477947319476555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"September 21, 2024/a/blockquote

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pFederer, who was in the crowd, gave on-court reporter a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/mark-petchey/p222/overview'Mark Petchey/a a double thumbrsquo;s up when asked about Tiafoersquo;s comment. The American is playing some of the best tennis of his career, having just reached the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a semi-finals for the first time after making the final in Cincinnati./p

pTiafoe entered the match facing a 0-5 Lexus ATP Head2Head deficit against Medvedev, but did not let that intimidate him. He played freely in the critical moments and had a blast on court even when losing points. After one Medvedev shot drew Tiafoe to his side of the court, the American did his signature sprinkling celebration to compliment his opponent./p

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pldquo;I just have a lot more confidence in myself. Irsquo;m having a lot of fun playing the game at the moment,rdquo; Tiafoe said. ldquo;Irsquo;m just trying to play the right way and compete as hard as I can, let the chips fall where they may. I respect everyone, but Irsquo;m just not fearing anyone at the moment. Irsquo;m just going out there, taking it to guys and seeing what happens.rdquo;/p

pAlcaraz produced a nearly flawless performance to defeat Shelton 6-4, 6-4, squaring the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/laver-cup/9210/overview'Laver Cup/a at 4-4./p

pldquo;Irsquo;m really happy for being part of Team Europe in a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/laver-cup/9210/overview'Laver Cup/a for the first time,rdquo; Alcaraz said. ldquo;Irsquo;m trying to be as [good] a partner as I can, as [good] a player as I can to help my team. I played against Ben, [who] is a really powerful player, a really tough one. Irsquo;m pretty happy because I played a really solid match since the beginning until [the end] of the match.rdquo;/p

p/p

pThe Spaniard fell in his a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/laver-cup/9210/overview'Laver Cup/a debut Friday evening in doubles alongside a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a, but bounced back against the big-serving American. In a high-quality clash, Shelton did little wrong. Alcaraz was just slightly better, saving all five break points he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats./p

p"In the other tournaments I'm obviously playing for myself. When you are playing as a team, you're playing for them as well, so you feel a little bit more the pressure because you feel like you have to win for them," Alcaraz said. "I feel a little bit more the pressure as I said, but at the same I feel more energy having them supporting me behind in the tough moments during the match."/p

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