Ben Shelton wasn't having the best time against Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 Laver Cup in Berlin, but he had some tricks up his sleeve—one of which was to trash talk his opponent, trying to distract him.
The second singles match of the second day was arguably the most interesting of the 2024 Laver Cup. It was a match between two of the most electric tennis players in the world: Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton.
The two contested a fascinating match. They produced plenty of highlights, and they seemed to have a lot of fun, which is always a bonus. The Spaniard needed to win to give Team Europe the tie, as the day's first match saw Daniil Medvedev lose to Frances Tiafoe.
Alcaraz played better and won the opening set 6-4. He continued playing well in the second set and went a break up again, so Shelton needed to find something new to try and turn the match more in his favor.
An idea came from Frances Tiafoe, who played the coach role during one of the changeovers, advising Shelton on a line to use for trash-talking, which the 21-year-old agreed with.
"I'm gonna say Roger would be proud."
Tiafoe also promised him that Alcaraz wouldn’t keep serving as well as he had been up until that point after his fellow American would try to distract him, as Alcaraz was serving superbly compared to his usual standard.
The whole conversation between the two had a lot of laughs from all sides, including coach John McEnroe, who was amused by their tactics. The end result of all that was that everybody had a good laugh, including Alcaraz, but unfortunately for Tiafoe, his prediction didn’t come true, as Alcaraz didn’t miss his first serve.
He didn't lose the match either, as he was able to keep it together in two sets, winning 6-4, 6-4, and giving Team World the 4-4 tie they badly needed.
They enjoyed the battle, and Shelton, in particular, didn’t shy away from using any tactic available to him. Why not? Things weren’t going as planned, and he needed to try something.
It didn’t work, but it demonstrated the lighter nature of the event. That’s what makes the Laver Cup so fascinating, and it’s why players keep coming back to it.
Shelton dominated the event last year, winning matches in both singles and doubles, but this time around, Team Europe brought in the big guns, like Alcaraz, who won his first singles match at the event comfortably, and was happy about it afterward.
"Well, it was really, really tough. Ben, I think, plays at a really high level in these kinds of competitions. I mean, when playing for his team, for his partner, he raises his level even more."
"So, it was a really solid match, I guess, from both sides. I'm really happy that, at the beginning of the match, I tried to return as much as I could and play long rallies."