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CAPTAIN AGASSI GUIDES TEAM WORLD TO LAVER CUP GLORY

Andre Agassi has long had a flair for the dramatic.

Born amidst Las Vegas neon, bred amidst the oft-suffocating dorm-room tennis academy life, he emerged in the late ‘80s like some acid-washed fever dream, an image-is-everything, camera-ready superstar; all forehand, flash and mullet.

Or so we thought.

With Fab Four cohorts Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Michael Chang, he helped bring in a whole new fandom, the sport’s MTV-endorsed answer to the fast-fading Tennis Boom years, jean shorts subbed for Stan Smiths and all-tennis-whites. There he was, falling to his knees on the lawns of the All England Club, the 1992 Wimbledon champion; in Flushing Meadows in ‘95, the first unseeded US Open titlist in the Open Era; in Melbourne, in his AO debut toppling Sampras in the title match. Their storied baseliner vs. serve-and-volleyer contrast would produce an otherworldly rivalry.

But it was in the tail-end of his playing career that we were first introduced to the Andre Agassi we know today, the deep-think sage with the uncanny ability to see the game from unthought-of angles. A new generation of players got their first taste of that this week as Agassi, now 55 and without all that hair, stepped back into the tennis fold as a first-time Laver Cup captain, taking over from John McEnroe as a courtside mentor for Team World.

Team World Captain Andre Agassi takes a moment to absorb his debut Laver Cup victory

Agassi himself said he didn’t know what to expect in his new role, that the whole thing would be an in-real-time, on-the-job learning experience. He went into it, he insisted, with a closed-mouth/open-ears approach, and his players were quick to respond.

“Andre is such a legend of the game. You always hear so much about him,” said the towering power-server Reilly Opelka, 6-foot-11. “The consensus is that he’s just this incredibly nice human being and incredibly intelligent. He gives back to the game and is happy to spread knowledge.”

McEnroe, beloved by his players, waited five years to get his first Laver Cup title, a trophy named for his boyhood idol, the two-time calendar-year Grand Slam champ Rod Laver. Here comes Agassi, who slides in a takes it all in his first go-round. On Sunday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco, in the eighth edition of the global showdown, Team World put the finishing touches on a dramatic 15-9 triumph over Yannick Noah’s Team Europe, securing its third Laver Cup in four years.

“Everybody played a part in making this one of the most memorable weeks I’ve ever spent on a tennis court.” — Team World captain Andre Agassi

It came down to the final match. Of course it did. That Agassi flair for the dramatic again. Appropriately, it was a Californian who played the role of hero. Taylor Fritz, who a night earlier had taken down Carlos Alcaraz in his first-ever win over a world No. 1, took down No. 3 Alexander Zverev in thrilling fashion, 6-3, 7-6(4). It was sweet redemption for the 27-year-old, who was on the other end of things last year in Berlin against Alcaraz.

“Seeing these guys on the bench getting pumped up, seeing a legend of the sport like Andre jumping out of his seat cheering for me, it’s just impossible not to be so fired up giving everything I have every point,” said Fritz. “It was a great feeling to clinch it in the end.”

There was a red-shirted mob scene afterward, Agassi and onetime rival Patrick Rafter, now his vice-captain, in the bum-rush with their delirious charges, most of whom weren’t yet born when they were making their names on the tour. There was Fritz and Argentine Francisco Cerundolo and the 19-year-old Brazilian sensation Joao Fonseca. There was the rock-solid Aussie Alex de Minaur, team alternate Jenson Brooksby and valuable last-minute additions Opelka and Alex Michelsen, all of whom had stepped up in a big way.

“Everybody played a part in making this one of the most memorable weeks I’ve ever spent on a tennis court,” said Agassi during a celebratory post-match presser. “Just unflappable. They never stopped believing. They laid their heart on the line. On paper, a lot of people said they didn’t see an inroad to pulling this off, but we shocked the world.”

De Minaur then stepped in: “No, we shocked Team Europe.”

“That’s a good point,” said Agassi. “It’s the champagne.”

- Richard Osborn

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Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe handed Team World a second successive Laver Cup title after they squeezed past Team Europe duo Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(4) 7-6(5) for a thrilling doubles victory on Sunday.

The Americans, who met earlier this month in the U.S. Open quarter-finals, found their rhythm to wrap up a final-day victory that lifted captain John McEnroe's team to 13 points and crushed any remaining hopes for Team Europe.

Team World took a 4-0 lead on the first day of competition, and extended it to 10-2 over Team Europe by the end of Saturday.

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