The fourth Laver Cup, a tennis team tournament in which the national teams of Europe and the rest of the world compete, took place in Boston.

This year, Russian athletes Andrei Rublev and Daniil Medvedev took part in it.

They won all their matches and, together with other representatives of the Old World, won a crushing victory.

The Laver Cup appeared on the tennis calendar in 2017.

It has become a kind of analogue of the Ryder Cup - a prestigious golf competition with a century of history, in which teams from the United States and Europe are opposed.

The tournament, named after two-time Grand Slam winner Rod Laver, runs over three days and can include up to 12 matches.

For winning each game, tennis players bring points to their teams, and every day the cost of winning increases so that the intrigue lasts as long as possible.

Since its inception, the Laver Cup has attracted many male tennis stars. No tournament before has been complete without the participation of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic, who were sure to bring victory to the European team. But this year the entire Big Three refused to participate for various reasons. But for the first time Russian tennis players were able to get on it - the second racket of the world Daniil Medvedev and the fifth number of the ATP rating Andrei Rublev. For both of them, the tournament in Boston was the first after the recent US Open.

In terms of composition, the European team, led by captain Bjorn Borg, had a tangible advantage over opponents. All of her tennis players, including also the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the German Alexander Zverev, the Italian Matteo Berrettini and the Norwegian Kasper Ruud, were in the top 10 of the ATP rating. The rest of the world team, of which John McEnroe became captain, did not have such tennis players. Already at the end of the first day, it became clear that the Europeans are very serious. Ruud defeated American Ryan Opelka in two sets, and Berrettini defeated Canadian Felix Auger-Allassim in a tie-break, which replaces the third game in the Laver Cup.

After that, Rublev added one more point to the European team's piggy bank. He met with Argentine Diego Schwartzman and also played a decisive tie-break with him to ten points. This shortened set began not easy for the Russian - due to his own mistakes, he even lost 2: 6, but managed to return to the game. Rublev had every chance to end the match on his serve, but it was at this moment that he made a double mistake. Fortunately, the next two rallies remained behind the fifth racket of the world, and the Europeans took the lead with a score of 3: 0. True, after that, American John Isner and Canadian Denis Shapovalov closed the gap, winning the doubles match against Berrettini and Zverev.

On the second day, on which two points were already due for the victory, the tennis players of the Old World continued their work. Tsitsipas and Zverev strengthened their leadership, single-handedly beating Australian Nick Kiryos and Isner. US Open champion Medvedev was next on the court to face off against Shapovalov. A long struggle between them did not work out - the Russian tennis player won in 75 minutes. In the second set, Medvedev did not even give the Canadian a single game, which was the first time in the history of the Laver Cup.

“I played incredibly, especially in the second set.

I didn't know what to expect, because after the US Open I hadn't played for a week and a half.

I came here, trained as best I could for the last three days, so I didn't manage to hit a lot of balls, but surprisingly I felt good.

I wanted to show it today too.

The first set was not easy, the ball did not fly as fast as we wanted, and Shapovalov also played well.

And then I just couldn't miss the ball.

I am very happy about that, ”Medvedev said after the match.

The second day ended with a pair match between Rublev and Tsitsipas against Isner and Kiryos.

The Europeans lost the first set in a tie-break, but were able to turn the game around and get two more points for their team.

After that, the Borg team only had to win one match to end the tournament in their favor.

Rublev came to the aid of the European team again.

On the third day, he teamed up with Zverev to play another doubles match with Opelka and Shapovalov.

The two North Americans managed to turn the game into a decisive tie-break, but it started with two blunders from the Canadian.

Rublev and Zverev did not miss the opportunity to win the Laver Cup ahead of schedule - for the Russian it was the first victory in the tournament, and for the German it was already the fourth.

“I thought I was one of the worst doubles players, that I can only hit from the forehand and that's it.

But it turned out that I can play quite well in pairs.

Everything was great.

I was glad to play with these guys, feeling the support of Bjorn Borg and Thomas Enquist ”, - noted Rublev after the third fight he won.

It was decided not to hold the remaining singles matches, including between Medvedev and Shvartsman.

But the winner of the US Open nevertheless met with the Argentine, only this time in an exhibition doubles game, in which they were joined by Ruud and Auger-Allassim.

The match took place after the rewarding and pouring champagne, and here the North Americans still managed to take a little revenge.

Soon, the first two rackets of Russia will again appear on the court.

This week Rublev will take part in the tournament in San Diego, where he will start fighting from the second round.

Medvedev will take another week off to prepare for the super tournament in Indian Wells, which starts on October 4.