While the 2024 tennis season has recently started, there are already talks about the Laver Cup 2024. For the 2024 edition, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev have been confirmed to play for Team Europe. The inclusion of Medvedev and Zverev have surprised a few fans, due to their heated rivalry.
However, this is not the first occasion when the German and the Russian have teamed up. Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev played together for Team Europe at the Laver Cup 2021. The duo helped their team in winning the title against Tw1eam World.
Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev both won their respective singles matches to help Team Europe to victory. Zverev defeated John Isner in a tiebreaker, while Medvedev won against Denis Shapovalov in straight sets. Team Europe ended up winning the Laver Cup by 14 points to 1. Both Medvedev and Zverev also took home $250,000 USD each in prize money.
This win was even more special due to the fact that the top guns like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic were missing out from Team Europe. The responsibility was on the shoulders of Medvedev and Zverev to carry the team and they did that to perfection.
Now, both of them are set to play in the same team again in 2024. However, their relationship is slightly different from what it was in 2021. Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev are engaged in a rivalry since last couple of years, and their relationship has gone south after the Zverev’s comments on the Netflix series, ‘Break Point’.
Zverev vs Medvedev rivalry: How has it panned out
Alexander Zverev took shots at Daniil Medvedev through the Netflix show, ‘Break Point’. The German called out Medvedev’s unsportsmanlike spirit and admitted that he has lost respect for the Russian. This came after Medvedev defeated Zverev at the 2023 Monte Carlo Masters. The Russian saved two match points and defeated Zverev in a thrilling match, which ended with the German in tears post-match.
Since then, Medvedev and Zverev have developed a heated rivalry, with every match resulting in thrills. Recently, Daniil Medvedev defeated Alexander Zverev in a 5-set thriller at the Australian Open. The Russian looked down and out after being two sets to love behind, but mustered a famous comeback to win the match in 5 sets. Now, with the duo set to play together, all eyes will be on their relationship with each other, and weather they will compete in doubles together as well.
