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why-the-face · 7 years

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Laver Cup: Day 3

Okay, so I took a little longer with this one than the two previous ones, but only because I needed a few days to actually process what had just happened. To be quite honest I'm still not really believing I was actually THERE to experience all of that. But I was! Wow. So anyway...

Emma (@song-of-freedom) and I were Laver Cup experts by this point, so we knew exactly at what time to get to the arena and have enough time to buy merch, get some drinks, and then get our seats without having to either rush or wait around forever for the event to start. I managed to get a nice little gray Laver Cup t-shirt with the roster on it on Day 2, because it looked really cool (the fabric was a bit rougher than I expected it to be, though, tbh), so that's what I was wearing.

There was a bit of a misunderstanding around the seating disposition though (a guy and his son were a bit confused and because they didn't really speak English, it took a little longer to get it sorted, but it was fine).

Now, here's something interesting that happened on Day 3: by then, it was all a lot of fun and games, and enjoying it, and fedal and everything... but when Tomas/Marin lost their doubles match and all of a sudden the score was 9-6, shit GOT REAL, really fast.

A quick rundown of what happened:

- As I mentioned on Day 1, the rest of our row were all Rafa fans (and fedal! Let's not forget the fedal love!), and when we saw the schedule for the day we all were a bit stunned. I mean... when you think about it, it actually made no sense. Why would Bjorn get Tomas to play doubles when Tomas had already lost both his singles AND doubles matches?! It would have made a lot more sense to have Sascha or Dom on his place, or maybe even as a doubles team themselves.

- Anyways, by then, it was pretty clear that Bjorn wasn't actually doing a lot of captain-ing, while McEnroe had been actually really clever. He used the big guns on Day 1, let them rest on Day 2, then went all out with them on Day 3, which is when it all actually matters. And it ALMOST paid off!

- When Marin and Tomas lost their doubles, we were ALL stunned in the arena... and the whole fun vibe started to fade.

- I actually felt really bad for Tomas, poor guy. By that point, all the points Team World had won were against him.

- We were super stoked Sascha won, but when Rafa lost, OOOOH BOY! Shit got real!

- I mean, Team World wasn't even doing their funny celebrations most of the time! THAT'S HOW SERIOUS IT GOT!

- Which is good anyway, because during his match, Rafa did seem a bit annoyed at some of their antics. Not that we could blame him. Poor Rafa, he seemed really tired. Still don't get why Bjorn would have him play 4 times (possibly 5 if it had gone down to the last doubles) in 3 days and underutilise Dom.

- Actually, a lot of people around the arena were cheering for Isner to win against Rafa. Some thought it was because they wanted to watch Roger play, but they were even cheering for Kyrgios against Roger, which leads me to believe they actually were hoping to watch fedal teaming up for the deciding doubles.

- I am a huge fedal fan myself, but THANK GOD that didn't happen! Rafa and Roger admitted afterwards that they were going to do the doubles if it had come down to it, and that would only happen if Rafa and Roger had lost their matches. So to ask them to play doubles AFTER HAVING JUST LOST, against two guys WHO HAD JUST WON, would have been suicide.

- Also, we wouldn't have Rafa JUMPING TO ROGER FEDERER'S ARMS WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!!!!!

- THAT ACTUALLY FUCKING HAPPENED! WHAT!

- Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself...

- Right, so, unfortunately, not a lot of Roger cheering for Rafa this time around, because he was preparing for his match while Rafa was playing. But THANKFULLY, Rafa was there from set 2 onwards of Roger's match and WOW.

- Rafa was cheering HARD for Roger! And you could tell Roger needed that. In set 1 when Team Europe had been pretty much silent and Rafa-less, you could see Roger glancing over to them and getting nothing in return from them. Bjorn wasn't actually talking to him and NO ONE was coming down to talk to him.

- When Rafa came down though, the team once again came around and started supporting him more.

- It was actually super sweet how Rafa would wait until Roger was actually looking at them to fist pump, clap, cheer, and encourage. He'd get up, wait for it, and THEN go "Come on! Keep going! Do it now!"

- Rafa got the crowd SUPER fired up for Roger on the last couple of points, he wanted everyone on their feet and screaming and OMFG HE'S THE BEST HEAD CHEERLEADER OF THEM ALL!

- That last tie break was PURE. FUCKING. AGONY!

- Kyrgios was up 8-5 at one point AND WE FELT LIKE PUKING FFS! And then he actually had matchpoint and I was on my feet, hunched over like Rafa, while Emma was looking away because we couldn't deal!

- AND THEN HE WON!!!!!

- AND THEN RAFA JUMPED ON HIM!!!!!!

- ALL THE FEDAL FEELS, OMFG!!!!!

- We were celebrating so hard when Roger won, I actually turned to the side and hugged the woman next to me real hard! WE WERE ALL SO HAPPY!

- Poor Kyrgios though (never thought I'd say that). You could tell he was really upset with the loss. Whoever thought the players weren't invested in this tournament WAS WRONG! All the players, man! Rafa was EXTREMELY emotionally invested in Roger's match, for instance! And man Roger was pulling out all the punches!

- Did I mention Rafa jumped on Roger? And then Roger went to Rafa and hugged him and apparently thanked him personally? Because I was drowning in fedal feels at that point. And just walking on air and still trying to process what had happened because OMG it all changed so quickly!

- Literally, the ONE time Roger was ahead on the score, it was when he had matchpoint. And he somehow converted it. IT WAS SO FAST!

- It was all surreal and just frankly amazing and I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I will try my damned hardest to be there in Chicago next year. Especially if fedal are a part of it again. Especially Rafa, man. It would not have been the same without Rafa being Head Cheerleader.

...

- Quick sidenote: the DJ at the arena was DEFINITELY a fedal fan! The song that was played the most during the 3 days was "Came here for love", which was used particularly right before fedal doubles, when the lyrics went "This is what we came here for / We came here for love" and I was just laughing so hard.

Not quite as hard, though, as when the screen started showing pictures of Roger touching Rafa and "I believe in a thing called love" started playing ("Touching yoooooooou / touching meeeeeeeeeee"). I AM NOT MAKING THIS SHIT UP, YOU GUYS!

AND THEN TO TOP IT ALL OFF: they showed pictures of fedal doubles and once again of Roger grabbing Rafa, and what song was used then? "I WANT IT THAT WAY" BY THE FREAKING BACKSTREET BOYS! WHAT!

#fedal #Roger Federer #Rafael Nadal #Tomas Berdych #sports: tennis #tennis: Laver Cup #my stuff

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