LAVER CUP

September 27, 2026

Yannick Noah

Tim Henman

Jakub Mensik

Casper Ruud

Carlos Alcaraz

Alexander Zverev

Flavio Cobolli

Rafael Jodar

Arthur Fery

O2 Arena

Team Europe

Press Conference

A. ZVEREV/L. Tien

7-6, 6-3

Team Europe - 13

Team World - 5

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, Team Europe.

Yannick, it's been great watching the energy and the camaraderie in your team over the past three days.

How does it feel to get the win? Was there anything you can tell us that you and Tim have done differently behind the scenes to secure the victory?

CAPTAIN YANNICK NOAH: Well, I mean, Tim was the main person. He's the one doing all the tough work. He's the one following the games. He knows the players. He knows the tactics. He knows tennis. He's young.

So, I mean, it was a good duet. He did all the hard work, and at night I was singing, basically. (Laughter.)

I felt, from last year, that was all a human adventure. These guys are playing all year, and for me, it was always -- I was full of gratitude to be able to experience these moments with them on tennis court, this quality of tennis, this event that -- I don't know around the world, but in France is not so well known, really, the amount of emotions.

Because at the end of the day, this is what we're doing. We are trying to play for emotions, and we have plenty of emotions, as we shared today, during the week.

And, yes, the little extra to have the Cup is good, because even though last year we are faking smiles, you know -- you know we love you guys, no, it's much better to win, and it's good to win here in London, even though I thought that most of the people were against us, for some reason. (Laughter.)

No, anyway, it was a wonderful experience as a captain, and I'm leaving with young friends.

THE MODERATOR: Sascha, you have had a truly incredible year, and now you've added the Laver Cup win with your teammates, as well.

How does this year feel compared to other years? How impressed have you been with the younger guys who have handled such amazing pressure throughout the last three days?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I think it was incredible team efforts. Especially, I felt like after I lost yesterday to Alex, I was quite down, and I think the team really helped me back up and helped me push forward, especially in the doubles, which I think was quite an important match.

I think Carlos kicked us off in the night session yesterday with a very, very important win. It was definitely a massive team effort. The young guys here, they're all incredibly talented. They have such a bright future ahead.

It was so fun to be around them throughout this week.

THE MODERATOR: Rafa, playing for the first time for Team Europe this weekend, you set a phenomenal tone on Day 1 by defeating Alexander Bublik.

How much did that opening win settle your nerves? And what did it mean to have players like Carlos, Sascha, and Yannick coaching you?

RAFAEL JODAR: Yeah, it means a lot to me, winning this title with these guys. They helped me since the first day I got here. They knew I was the new one, so they had to explain me how this competition worked.

But I think they did a really good job supporting me during my first match, you know, during my debut. That is always very difficult.

So, yeah, I was very happy to get my first win, and then during the whole weekend, I tried to support my teammates. I think we did a great job as a team, supporting each other from the bench to the guy who was on court playing.

So, yeah, this one means a lot to me to have been able, the opportunity to share this great week with these guys.

Yeah, super special.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Congrats to all you guys. Yannick, tennis has brought some incredible things to your life. Ashe coming to Cameroon, you winning at Roland Garros. Just talk about being able to experience this victory with these guys, what it means in your life?

CAPTAIN YANNICK NOAH: Well, I'm actually, in a way, I'm downplaying it. I'm super happy. I'm very happy, because, you know, it's just moments that we get to share.

I didn't know these guys, like, last year. They probably saw some of the things I did like 45 years ago somewhere in some magazine, but I mean, I didn't know them.

To be able to just sit with them was a very important, strong experience, because I love the game. I love tennis. I'm older player, but I love the game. For me to be sitting with this quality of players is something amazing.

Last year, on paper, we were supposed to win. Even though I was trying to joke about it, we lost. So I took it personal, because I see them winning all these matches, and the minute I sit with them, they lose. So I felt like shit. (Laughter.)

So this year, I had a little bit of pressure. I can't lie to you. I had a little bit of pressure. It means a lot. I mean, this event means a lot.

I have been captain of Davis Cup, but this is a special event. It works. We're playing for these kind of moments. You know, this is why we play, to be able to experience these kind of moments.

And then, you know, these guys are going to go to Asia on the circuit and do different things. But as a group, it's very unusual for us to live these kind of moments. For me, I cherish it. I'm going to have a beautiful picture with my guys, you know, somewhere, you know. We won. We won Laver Cup 2026. So I'm very happy about that.

Q. I've got a question for Sascha. Coming into this as a Grand Slam champion for the first time, did you maybe feel a little bit more pressure and expectation? Does it make it extra satisfying to get over the line in the end?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think I definitely felt a little bit of pressure today because of the match that I lost yesterday. You know, I'm extremely happy, and I'm extremely pleased that Tim and Yannick and the rest of the team still had the confidence in me to close it out and to play in the final day, because I lost the last three matches of the Laver Cup before that.

I have had a little bit more extra pressure today, but I think the Laver Cup, we saw that over the years, is a different type of event. The results that happen here sometimes don't happen on the normal tour, but here, all of a sudden, people come alive, play their best tennis, and so on.

So I knew that this event is very, very different towards anything else, but I think it was important to close it out today for me.

Q. Arthur and Rafa, you had quite rapid rises this year, so now that you're going to be sharing the locker room with these guys the next ten years or something, how helpful is a week like this to get to know these guys on a different level?

ARTHUR FERY: Yeah, for me, it's been an incredible week, incredible experience to be with these guys and, yeah, watch all their matches, support from their side of the court.

Yeah, haven't been on tour for so, so long, so it's an awesome event. Been so happy to be part of the team, and yeah, as you say, hopefully get to spend more time with all these guys for the next years to come.

RAFAEL JODAR: Yeah, for me, the same. It was a special week. You know, what I have realized here on tour, you are many weeks traveling with your own team, but you are playing for yourself. And here, you are playing for a team. You get the support by any other, you know, player here in the team.

So it's very special to have this weekend on the tour where you can be with more people around your team. Obviously with these two great captains who really help us this weekend and this week, in practices at first, and then in the matches, I think they did a great job, so I want to thank them, as well, for believing in me and calling me for representing Europe this year.

Q. Congrats, everyone. Jakub and Carlos, the conditions this week have looked very slow and actually very difficult to play in at times, it seems like. A lot of people consider indoor tennis to be tennis that helps players to attack more. What have you made of the conditions here? What's it like playing in them? Do you think it should be any different in the future?

JAKUB MENSIK: Well, yeah, obviously, especially me or I guess all of us, we felt like the conditions were pretty slow, which, yeah, compared to the other tournaments, it's one of the probably slowest surface that I have played on this year, like as far as hard courts are here.

So yeah, I mean, it was really tough for me to get used to it, to get the rhythm. Especially for me, my game is a lot about the serve and heavy groundstrokes. It's even more difficult for me to finish the ball.

So, you know, the trend of this, I didn't really know where it's going, but obviously with the combination of the balls, which I consider them that they were not that good, as well, it was super slow (smiling).

CARLOS ALCARAZ: I mean, for me, I don't mind slow courts (smiling). You know, especially with my serve, it's not the biggest one.

No, but yeah, in terms of, you know, I mean, I have been talking with Yannick, team, how the tennis has improved over the years, how fast it was the courts back then. And now, you know, it's getting slower, but I think it's not about the courts. It is about the balls, I would say.

You know, we can see during a lot of tournaments how the balls' reaction from the court is totally different. The ball becomes super big, and it's totally different game when it's new balls. We play two or three games with that balls, you have to adapt yourself the best you can.

I don't know where if they're going to change it or not, but what I request is that they have to see the best ball possible for the courts are made, the tournaments we're going to play. I think that's a really important things to know.

But, you know, who knows? What I can say is I'm trying to adapt myself and the game the best I can in the tournament that I go.

Q. Huge congratulations on the win. I have a question for Sascha and Carlos. Sascha, awesome year for you. Two Grand Slams, Laver Cup. I'd love to know what changed for you mentality and strategy-wise this year. Carlos, so great to have you back playing after injury. How much does winning the Laver Cup increase your confidence to come back and attack those Grand Slams next year?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, for me, obviously not a bad year, for sure. Of course how the Grand Slam season went for me, I'm very, very satisfied. If, at the beginning of the year, somebody would have gave me a paper to sign for one Grand Slam, I would have signed it straightaway. But I think winning two Grand Slams, yeah, it's a dream come, of course. I've said it before, I've had a lot of heartbreaks at a Grand Slam level. I think this year, all of that kind of came together and it was a phenomenal year.

But I think the Laver Cup is a completely different event, right? I think you can't compare the two. I think here we're playing a very fast format, and we're playing as a team. I think here you feel more pressure to perform for everybody else, as well.

I'm super satisfied to win the Laver Cup back after losing it last year.

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, I mean, for me, it's great. I would say that for me it's great to be back here and be part of the Team Europe in the Laver Cup, you know, especially that I have been out for five months, and this is my second tournament, so I need matches on my back, and to get the good rhythm again, how to see how my body's going to react, then it's a really intense game, playing doubles, and have to wake up early with not the proper amount of hours of sleep, and I had to perform my best game.

So it's kind of really intense ones, so I'm just really happy I have been able to play couple of matches here, see that my level, it's good, happy that I have been playing, and obviously winning the Laver Cup with these guys is always special. I just love the feeling of it.

I was loving that the feeling of, you know, supporting, you know, these guys when they were playing from the bench, so I think is really unique and a special format that I just love to be part of it.

Q. Sascha, as the player who has played Laver Cup for the longest period of time, is playing Laver Cup, does it feel different now compared to when you first played, whether that's in pressure, in preparation, atmosphere, or however you want to answer it?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: It feels completely different with the players and where I was in my career. I mean --

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, I mean, we're not really Federer. We know that (laughing).

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: That's not what I mean. (Laughter.)

The first time I played Laver Cup, me, myself, I was 20 years old, and I had Federer and Nadal as teammates. Of course it feels different, because there, the entire week, I don't think I said one word, and the rest of the team didn't say one word. We're all sitting there with an open mouth listening.

That's what it felt like. For me, it was one of the most special weeks just being with those guys.

Where now, I'm the oldest guy on the team, so it's a little bit different, of course. We have legends on the team with Carlos and Yannick -- I mean, Tim, half a legend, I'd say. (Laughter.)

But it's very, very special, the group of people that we have. But I think being a 20-year-old kid and being in the same room at the same dinner table and same locker room as Rafa and Roger for an entire week, it's different. There's no question about that.

Q. Congratulations, guys. Just one for Carlos. You have spoken about the schedule a little bit this week and feeling a bit burnt out. How important is an event like this, the Laver Cup, where you can be a little bit more laid back, can lean on your teammates, keeping you motivated as the tour goes on?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: You feel burnt out? You had a four-month vacation.

CARLOS ALCARAZ: I know, but you have to speak out sometimes.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I played 98 matches since you were gone. (Laughter.)

CARLOS ALCARAZ: No, I said it since the beginning of the week. You know, you've got to use everything to your favor, and I'm using, for example, this tournament to bring my joy back. I love playing.

You know, every time that I step on the court, I love it, because I'm doing with these guys, when it is a team event is totally different, playing for your side, for your teammates, playing for the guys who are supporting you from the bench, from outside. And that's great.

Obviously having a great captain and co-captain behind you all the time, it's great. This week, as I said, I just really wanted to -- I mean, I just love to be part of it and makes me find my joy when I'm playing, help me a lot to find my great tennis when I'm playing out there, and help me a lot to the next tournament.

So that's what these kind of events brings to me.

Q. Carlos, earlier there was a clip online with you with Federer backstage having lunch together, and there was a little bit of a moment when you were celebrating for Team Europe. Can you give insight, what was the conversation going on, and what does it mean to play in front of someone as a legend like Roger Federer?

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Yeah, Arthur and me, we were having lunch, and then all of a sudden, Roger came in and grabbed a plate and having lunch with us, talking about -- we're not going to say it, because we were in private, obviously, our conversation keep for us.

But it's great. Yeah, I can see Roger sometimes in tournaments when he's around, but it's not usual things to spend too much time with him when we are on tour. So the Laver Cup is one of those special things that brings to you that you have get to spend time with Roger much more off the court speaking, and I'm able to ask him about, you know, a lot of things, which is great. So I just loved the moment.

Q. A question for Tim. What are your reflections on this week? And do you need some more Champagne?

VICE CAPTAIN TIM HENMAN: I have been asking for some more Champagne, but it's been a little bit slow coming.

This week has been absolutely fantastic. We had a great week in San Francisco and we came up short. When Yannick and I were messaging each other coming into this week, and when we arrived, the first thing Yannick said to me, It's great to be back, but we've got to win.

And that's what it was all about. And the way that the team have come together, we had a very similar team to San Francisco, but to add Rafa at such a young age, the way he's come through was absolutely incredible, and their performance on the court has spoken for itself.

So it's been an amazing week. When I reflect on the Laver Cup, we've got plenty of history and tradition in our sport, but we also need innovation. What Laver Cup has done, obviously led by Roger and Tony Godsick, and to have Steve Zacks in the room, the CEO of this event, when you think about what works in tennis, and we're in the entertainment business, when you bring the best players in the world together, we have had 12 of the top 22 in the world, in a great city, great stadium, we've got incredible partners and sponsors for this event, and then you fill the stadium out, you see the intensity, the rivalry between these individual athletes, this is what tennis needs.

There's a lot of other events that don't necessarily work. And I think to be a part of this for the last two years has been an absolute privilege. To have these teammates and friends going forward is very, very special.

It's great to sit up here and drink some Champagne and have a small trophy in front of us and a very big one back in the locker room.

CAPTAIN YANNICK NOAH: It's great to drink Champagne? You are the only one drinking Champagne. You have to share.

VICE CAPTAIN TIM HENMAN: Well, I'm the only one sensible to bring a glass.

CARLOS ALCARAZ: It's really empty?

VICE CAPTAIN TIM HENMAN: I know. I've drunk it. I think there's a hole in this, though.

Q. Carlos, on the topic of your scheduling, I think you have said since you came back from injury, you maybe want to pick and choose your tournaments. Are you concerned in the future the Laver Cup might have to be sacrificed for you to preserve your body? And is the Davis Cup now your biggest aim for the rest of the season? Because that's another team event. Also, just a couple of younger lads, if I can ask, maybe Flavio and Rafa...

VICE CAPTAIN TIM HENMAN: What's this, five questions or...

CARLOS ALCARAZ: Well, obviously for me, it depends. Every year is different. We don't know what's going to happen, for example, this year, but yeah, it is in a moment that you've got to, yeah, to be honest, you've got to choose Davis Cup or going here, because part of both events is difficult if you have a long run in the US Open.

So, you know, it depends. Let's see. You know, the future is gonna decide that, but obviously for me, you know, the Davis Cup is really important goal for me. This season, we have a great team, you know, with Rafa, with Marcel in the doubles, and I think we have chances to win this year. I'm not gonna lie.

So it's a great and important goal for me.

Q. Casper, it's your sixth appearance at the Laver Cup. You had different doubles partner. I'm not going to ask you who's your favorite, but I'd like to know what would you take from each doubles partner you had here and why?

CASPER RUUD: I would probably take Sascha's serve, if I could, and I would take everything else from Carlos. (Laughter.)

Simple answer. Simple and quick. That's it.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Team Europe.