{"id":864485,"date":"2026-09-29T08:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T08:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/864485\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T08:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T08:06:21","slug":"team-europe-and-team-world-rookies-embrace-laver-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/864485\/","title":{"rendered":"TEAM EUROPE AND TEAM WORLD ROOKIES EMBRACE LAVER CUP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Laver Cup rookies tasted team victory at The O2 in London in 2026, but all four got to immerse themselves in the Laver Cup. The biggest takeaway? How much they cared.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely was a crazy experience for me,\u201d said Alexander Bublik, one of three newcomers on Team World. \u201cI always watched Laver Cup\u2019s past editions, and I always thought it was more like a fun event, an exhibition. Then I get here, and, to be honest with you, I\u2019ve never cared more about winning this one. I never cared as much in a quarterfinal of a Slam as the doubles I played [Saturday], to be honest. That\u2019s true, that\u2019s the honest truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OnOn the move: Alexander Bublik.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the team aspect, which isn\u2019t part of the regular tour, that changed the feel. \u201cBeing on the tour, we don\u2019t get to spend a lot of time together outside the court, outside the tournaments,\u201d said Team World debutant Brandon Nakashima. \u201cIt is great to get to know all these guys. To be able to hear their thoughts or insights on the different matches, players, strategy, it is great for me to hear all that and great to be part of a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nakashima, 25, kicked off his Laver Cup experience with a win on Day 1 over Jakub Mensik and said that playing in front of a near-full arena in London felt amazing.<\/p>\n

\"BrandonBrandon Nakashima withstands the pressure to win his first Laver Cup point for Team World on Day 1.<\/p>\n

Lone Team Europe rookie Rafael Jodar, 20, also won on Friday in his debut match.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think these types of events are different from what we are used to on the tour,\u201d the young Spaniard said. \u201cI think we\u2019re traveling a lot alone; we don\u2019t play a lot of team events, so when we have the opportunity, I think these events make us value this sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jodar said the Laver Cup had two sides. First on the court, \u201cto have so many good players on the bench, I think they help me in any way they can,\u201d he said. Then there was the entire week, and time spent off the court. \u201cIt\u2019s something very special for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"RafaelRafael Jodar makes a winning debut.<\/p>\n

Team World\u2019s Learner Tien, 20, also won his debut match on Saturday after taking in the competition for an entire day before opening play on Day 2. The format was something that struck him from the jump.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the biggest thing is knowing that no scoreline is really safe,\u201d Tien said. \u201cMatches can turn very fast. Just knowing that was really big.\u201d<\/p>\n

He finally got to experience the rollercoaster in person.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always watch this event; I think it is a really cool event that I want to play, so I am really happy I got to be part of it,\u201d Tien said. \u201cIt is really unique playing on a team in tennis, and I was just grateful I was able to experience it with Pat [Rafter], Andre [Agassi], all those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TeamTeam World debutant Learner Tien.<\/p>\n

The week for Tien focused on soaking in what he could from the older players. For Nakashima, it was all a bit sudden. He didn\u2019t even think he was coming just weeks before the event. When Ben Shelton pulled out of Laver Cup after the US Open, Nakashima got the call while training at home in Florida. \u201cIt was a quick \u2018yes\u2019 from me,\u201d he said. \u201cI was super excited about it and happy to be part of the team and part of the event. It has been a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the goal always of playing at the top of the sport, Nakashima said that making the Laver Cup roster helps achieve that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was amazing, the team atmosphere, the environment that we all get to play in with so many tennis legends a part of it and all these guys\u2019 support on the bench,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s unlike any experience I\u2019ve had before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bublik, 29, didn\u2019t secure a win (he lost in a singles match on Friday to Jodar and dropped two doubles matches, on Friday and on Saturday), but he still focused on the positives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great experience for me being next to Andre and Pat, being next to the colleagues that I play all the time, together being on the same team supporting each other,\u201d Bublik said. \u201cIt was a hell of an experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three Laver Cup rookies tasted team victory at The O2 in London in 2026, but all four got…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[32378,29090,34800,177181,99,428],"class_list":["post-864485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alexander-bublik","tag-brandon-nakashima","tag-learner-tien","tag-rafael-jodar","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}