Roger Federer had suffered a strange debacle, from 4-0 to 5-7, in the tie-break of the first set against Nick Kyrgios. Not even the winner of 20 Grand Slam titles seemed able to unbalance the tremendous equality on the second day of the Laver Cup. It even seemed somewhat overcome by the great outbursts of the Canberra tennis player. However, in those moments of tension, he found a surprising advice from Rafa Nadal that coincided with his takeoff on the scoreboard.

The Basel genius completed the comeback (6-7 [5], 7-5, 10-7) with the unexpected collaboration of who remains his great adversary. "Try to play with as few hits as possible. If possible, less than five," the Spanish moved during one of the breaks. Rafa, known for his memory to remember the crucial data of each match, displayed at that time a statistic captured from his own harvest.

"When the point is played less than five strokes you are winning more than him. I have checked. I know it is complicated because Nick reads the ball very well, but you must try," added the Mallorcan, who only defeated Kyrgios just two months ago in the second round of Wimbledon.

"Rafa saved me! When he was having a worse time, he came to give me advice. He spoke to me clearly, directly and gave me a lot of confidence to overcome," Federer conceded, whose triumph put Europe with the momentary 5-3.

Shortly after, Nadal jumped for the first time on the track to beat Milos Raonic (6-3, 7-6 [1]) and link his eleventh consecutive victory since that semifinal lost at the All England Club. After two weeks of vacation, the 'number two' of the ATP had to use 126 minutes.

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