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LAVER CUP

September 22, 2019

Geneva, Switzerland

Team Europe - 13

Team World - 11

THE MODERATOR: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this press conference. Please welcome Team World.

Questions, please.

Q. Good evening. I'm sorry for you if you didn't win.
NICK KYRGIOS: Cheers.

Q. I'd like to know from John McEnroe what would he have changed if he could change something today? Because he didn't expect probably that Fritz would beat Thiem, but he did. So you weren't happy of what happened. Can you tell us about that? And also, Federer is talking about a dreaming weekend. Are you talking about a nightmare?
CAPTAIN JOHN McENROE: You sound like you've already written a story. (Laughter.)

Why do I even have to answer? I mean, Jesus Christ. That's a skittlish question.

Is that good enough? What was the question, Ubaldo? I forgot. I'm not sure I care at this point.

The answer is we fought our hearts out, is the bottom line. We were in a position to win. Taylor played awesome.

We stepped up in the doubles. John played great. Roger was, you know, playing great. He had set point. And Milos took it to the tiebreaker. So we were a tiebreaker away at the worst.

We fought our hearts out. I'm very proud of this team.

Q. Even though you lost, you all played great. John, could you say a word about this weekend? I mean, because you seem to have such a great team to get on well together. Were you surprised about the atmosphere today?
CAPTAIN JOHN McENROE: We have great chemistry and energy, but the energy in the crowd was incredible, I mean, for both sides. I mean, obviously they are pulling for Team Europe, but, I mean, they inspired us, as well.

It was unreal, and so we appreciated it. It certainly was not the reason that we lost because of the crowd. If anything, I think we played better and were more inspired. So it was an awesome weekend.

Q. This is for Nick. Nick, how disappointing was it not to be able to go today? Talk about your situation, if you don't mind, and just the whole thing how it all played out.
NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, I woke up. You know, I have been feeling my collarbone for the last week. I think just the amount I played yesterday, you know, the occasion, the pressure, I guess it just, you know, was a little bit too much for my body.

But in hindsight it was actually probably a good thing. Fritzy stepped up today. It was amazing seeing one of my good mates. And we all were behind him.

That's probably one of the most special moments he's going to remember for the rest of his career. He stepped up on Day 3 of Laver Cup. And, you know, myself, John, Shapo, guys who play this before know how hard it is to get up for those days, and he did amazing today.

I was super happy for you. It was amazing. It was one of the more special moments in my career watching a tennis match. I mean, it was upsetting. This is one of my favorite events of the year, and for me to pull out of a match is never easy. But, I mean, I felt it would have been selfish if I was going to go out there and maybe after a set call it when we have someone like Taylor on the bench who is healthy and ready to go and more than capable of beating guys like Thiem.

I'm super happy for him. Obviously the loss is tough, but that moment was pretty special.

Q. John, you have been through a bunch of these. What are your feelings overall? What do you think the difference is? Can you even quantify it really? Where do you hope the event goes from here?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, once again, it's very small margins. I think most importantly we showed that, you know, we belonged on that court with that team. As everyone knows, we were the big underdogs and we came within a whisker of winning. So I think we proved a lot of people wrong.

In an event like this, you sort of throw the rankings out the window, and, you know, the rankings don't matter at all. I think Nick said that earlier. And we proved that we were a very formidable opponent.

But once again, it stings to lose. This is, you know, Nick's third time, my third time, Jack's third time as players, and of course the McEnroes as captains. It's not easy to lose in agonizing fashion like that.

But that's what makes this event so special, that, you know, the thrill of victory is amazing for them and the agony of defeat sucks for us.

I wouldn't change it for anything.

Q. Nobody else is being chatty here. John or Patrick, quickly, do you think any rules need to be changed? It's a new event. They're figuring things out still, but the way it played out today without being able to change your lineup after they changed theirs when you had that right, should they change the rules for the next one?
CAPTAIN JOHN McENROE: Yes, obviously. Because we are supposed to sort of match up, and then it turns out that Rafa pulls out, and then we can't match up, in a way, especially when, you know, Nick -- you know, we found out this morning Nick was hurting more than we anticipated.

So that, to me, should be a no-brainer. But this is in the early stages. Hopefully the powers that be in our sport will keep this event healthy and alive, as I think it deserves to be, because I think for those of you who have seen this for the past three years, it's one of the best events. I mean, I can't think of really an event or something new that's happened in the sport over the course of the last couple of years that's better than this.

You know, I'm a team guy, but I hope the Davis Cup is successful. That's a radical change. They have another event. And the Olympics. There seems to be too many, dare I say, team events, but when you have Rod Laver and Roger Federer behind this the way they have been and the excitement that people see, I mean, these guys fought their hearts out.

It's a bummer, but it's an awesome event.

Q. John, the beginning of the tournament you said that don't underestimate your team, even though the other side was the overwhelming favorites. They have come so close on this occasion, closest of the three years. Does something like this sit with you for a while, or do you get over it pretty quickly?
CAPTAIN JOHN McENROE: Well, I don't do that many events. You know, I commentate at the majors and I do this event. And my playing days are going down.

So this, to me, is going to sting for quite a while. This one really hurts. They all hurt. We had chances. The first year Nick had a chance to tie it up with a match point. Last year we had opportunities to win. We were so close.

This time we actually had, you know, were a point away and we were a tiebreak away. It's just crazy. It's just unbelievable that we haven't won this.

I know that if we don't win in Boston, I am toast. So the pressure is on already. For me, at least.

Q. John, first of all, you...
CAPTAIN JOHN McENROE: There are a lot of other people here. Don't ask me any more fucking questions if you don't mind.

You first asked me a question in 1978, I think, in Bologna. Ask somebody else a question, Ubaldo, and then I will take one more motorcycle ride with you, okay? Go ask somebody else something.

Q. We will ask Patrick then, maybe, another McEnroe. What do you think about all these team events that are going to be -- the Olympics, you know, the ATP Cup, the Laver Cup. Next year Laver Cup will be played just immediately after the US Open, because the US Open, because of the Olympics, will be played the first two weeks of September. So how do you see all these events going?
VICE-CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: The last time I checked, Ubaldo, the 250 events aren't doing so well around the world.

So when I look at the team events, believe it or not, I agree or maybe even sort of disagree with my brother. I love them. I think we should have as many of them as possible.

As long as the players are making money and are enjoying it and they can get some points, as well, to me, there should be -- I hope they all succeed, all the team events, because this is what tennis needs. This is what the people want to see.

You see the people love it, the players love it. Why not have more team events? The more, the merrier, if they can all succeed.

Q. Milos, can you just talk about this last match, the decider?
MILOS RAONIC: Yeah, obviously I wish things would have gone differently, but it is what it is. It sort of comes down to two sets and a super-breaker. Didn't go our way.

But I think overall this weekend, for me, has been a great pleasure with these guys up here. I think you could see from today, the way things went for Taylor, he came into here probably in the best form and having the best part of his season out of all of us, and I think a lot of us also got to take a step forward with the way -- for me, it's been a tough year. For John, as well, with his foot. He played great throughout this weekend. Nick played well.

Denis played well, as well. You know, he started playing well a week before the US Open and really stepped it up through here. I thought he played really well. I think the whole team -- Jack, getting his first singles win, stepping up big there, stepping up every time for this event.

CAPTAIN JOHN McENROE: It was tough for me and Patrick, too. (Comment about the booth and commentary.)

MILOS RAONIC: I'm just grateful. For me, it's been tough, and I think each player up here, Pat and John got the best out of us.

Hopefully we can all lead this to better things for the rest of the season and we can all play well and use this as a turning point, because everybody here gave it their all.

(Applause.)

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297

LAVER CUP

September 22, 2019

Captain John McEnroe

Jordan Thompson

Taylor Fritz

Nick Kyrgios

Denis Shapovalov

Milos Raonic

Jack Sock

John Isner

Vice-Captain Patrick McEnroe