Is that what traveling in a time machine feels like, minus the hot tub?
For a while at the United Center on Saturday, the Laver Cup crowd was transported from 2018 Chicago to 1981 Wimbledon.
“YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!!!”
We are serious.
And so is the Laver Cup.
“You guys can see for yourself how serious it is out there,” said American John Isner, who lost a heartbreaker to Alexander Zverev, failing to cash in on a match point. “The word ‘exhibition’ is so stupid; this event is the furthest thing from that.”
Indeed, Saturday is when the convivial nature of this Europe-versus-the-World event turned saucy.
John McEnroe, the captain of Team World, erupted during Saturday’s late-afternoon match that Roger Federer won 6-3, 6-2. McEnroe sought to defend his player, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, who was even more hostile to Australian umpire John Blom.
Here’s what happened: Trailing 3-1 in the second set, Kyrgios hammered a serve to the ad court that was called out. The linesperson, realizing the mistake, then overturned the call.
That left Blom with a decision: Replay the point or award it to Kyrgios, given that Federer barely got a racket on the serve. Umpires tend to be conservative in these instances, reasoning that an “out” call can throw off a player’s timing.
Blom called for a replay, and that set off McEnroe and Kyrgios, already frustrated by Federer’s dominance and the World’s losing several close matches.
“You are delusional,” McEnroe screamed. “You’re saying that affected his return?”
Blom: “There’s a small chance, yeah.”
McEnroe: “What chance, 0.01 percent?!”
Blom: “We’re going to replay the point, John. That’s how we do it in tennis.”
McEnroe wasn’t available for comment after the match.
Said Federer: “I thought the linesperson screamed right as I was hitting the ball. Now, was I going to make it? Maybe not. But the rule says that you replay the point when it’s in the shot.
“We knew what the situation was, and I understand that they tried to sway the umpire to change his call, which never happens. It’s a waste of time, but I understand.”
Kyrgios sounded like Javier Baez, thankful that Joe Maddon had his back.
“He went to bat for me,” Kyrgios said. “He stood up for me even though it wasn’t much of a match at that stage. He genuinely cares for the team.”
After losing the argument, Kyrgios remained steamed, enough to get a warning from Blom for verbal abuse. That did not go over well.
“You’re so irrelevant in this whole thing but you’re still screwing this up,” Kyrgios shot back.
Given an hour to cool off, Kyrgios showed proper sportsmanship, calling the incident a minor sidelight.
“At that stage of the match I’m already down a set and a break, and we are in Chicago, we are supposed to get a little bit of the home calls or the home crowd to go our way,” he said. “But it wouldn’t have mattered. Roger was too good. He played some of the best tennis I have personally been a part of.”
If you’ll allow for one more baseball comparison, Federer’s play was about like Jon Lester retiring all 27 batters he faced in a game. Federer used the word “perfect” to describe his play.
“Maybe playing the doubles (Friday) helped,” he said of teaming with Novak Djokovic. “I have been now in the States for almost two months, so I’m not fighting jet lag. I had a clear game plan. From the baseline I was calm, composed, knew when to attack, when to wait. I was moving my feet very well. I think there you have it.”
Federer’s 65 minutes of dominance gave Team Europe a 7-1 lead, but the night session was kind to Team World.
Kevin Anderson stunned Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 10-6, to the delight of those hollering “I-L-L … I-N-I!”
Djokovic put a forehand in the net on match point, allowing Anderson to get revenge after losing to Djokovic in the three-set Wimbledon finals.
And Kyrgios teamed with Jack Sock to take out Grigor Dimitrov and David Goffin 6-3, 6-4. That trimmed Europe’s lead to 7-5, with three singles matches and one doubles match set for Sunday. Europe needs to win two to keep the Cup.
Kyrgios and Sock didn’t need McEnroe to come to their side Saturday night.
But let’s be serious. He would have, if necessary.
Sunday’s matchups
Match 9: Federer/Zverev (Europe) vs. Sock/Isner (World)
Match 10: Federer (E) vs. Isner (W)
Match 11: Zverev (E) vs. Anderson (W)
Match 12: Djokovic (E) vs. Kyrgios (W)
tgreenstein@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein
