In Monfils’s opening service game, an exaggerated shimmy of the hips as he dodged a stray ball drew a ripple of laughter from the audience. Having held, he engaged in some light-hearted banter, first with his team-mates, then with nearby spectators. Before long, Monfils was mischievously enquiring of the chair umpire whether it was “home” officiating”, then sitting down beside a linesman in mock disbelief after successfully challenging a call for the second time in the space of a few minutes. 

It is not difficult to see why Monfils is so widely loved by the paying public. At 37, the former US Open semi-finalist’s rubber-limbed body is less compliant than it once was, but his persona and his shot-making remain as beguiling as ever. The Laver Cup is many things but, unless you fancy being stuck up in the gods, cheap is not one of them; a decent seat for the opening day in Vancouver would have set you back up to $630. Yet, as Monfils went about his business with his customary sense of showmanship, few in the audience could have felt short-changed. 

The one person not laughing was Auger-Aliassime. And with five games gone, the Canadian world No 14 made his feelings known to Greg Allensworth, the chair umpire – in the process articulating a fundamental question about the nature of the event. 

“Is it a full-on exhibition or are you sticking to the ATP rules?” asked Auger-Aliassime. 

“It’s kind of, er, ATP rules,” replied Allensworth, apparently not entirely sure himself. 

“Are you telling me that’s normal?” demanded Auger-Aliassime. “He sits down for like 30 seconds? I mean, that’s a time violation warning, it’s not, ‘I’m going to talk to him.’ Because I can play games too.”

Allensworth might have retorted that the Laver Cup has never been “normal” – which, of course, is precisely its charm. Inspired by Rod Laver, the greatest champion of the 60s, captained by Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, two of the biggest stars of the 70s and early 80s, and founded by a modern grandee in Roger Federer, the competition is a monument to the sport’s heritage, a marriage of champions past, present and future. The sight of players who spend most of the year trying to beat seven bells out of each other casting aside their differences to exchange tactical advice and vociferous support never gets old.

Inevitably, though, a competition that marches to the beat of its own drum can hardly be seen as standard ATP fare. Unlike a normal tour event – or, indeed, the Ryder Cup, on which it is broadly based – participation in the Laver Cup is by invitation rather than ranking. The players are well rewarded for their involvement – again, unlike their golfing counterparts – while the use of a 10-point “Laver breaker” in lieu of a deciding set only heightens the sense that, even if it has been part of the ATP calendar since 2019, the tournament bears all the hallmarks of an exhibition.

In truth, this dualism has been embedded in the Laver Cup from the beginning. “Guys coming together, playing for the right reasons, and Rod Laver, and spending a cool week together, and trying our absolute best and just having a good time,” was how Federer characterised his vision for the competition before the inaugural edition in Prague in 2017. And in many ways the Laver Cup has fulfilled that remit, combining spirited battle with spirited camaraderie to forge a spectacle full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. 

But what happens when those twin imperatives clash? What happens when one player is out to have a good time and the other is determined to try his best? A meeting between Monfils, revelling in his first invitation to represent Team Europe, and Auger-Aliassime, desperate to get a disappointing season back on track and understandably eager to deliver a good performance before his home crowd, offered an opportunity to find out. And the answer wasn’t pretty. 

Unhappy about Auger-Aliassime’s remarks to Allensworth, Monfils twice confronted his opponent at the change of ends. “I’m playing, like, serious,” Auger-Aliassime told the Frenchman. As he later explained to his team-mates, Monfils regarded the event in a different light. “They called me, they told me, ‘Oh, the Laver Cup is so nice, you can be free,’” he said. “Me, I’m here to have fun.” At which, Auger-Aliassime seemed incredulous. “What have the people that brought him here told him?” wondered the 23-year-old out loud. “I just think it’s unfortunate for everyone involved.”

The latter point was undeniable, the remainder of an initially promising contest played out with the two men at opposite mental and emotional poles. While Monfils appeared to completely lose interest, Auger-Aliassime remained almost comically engaged, fist-pumping his way to a 6-4, 6-3 victory against an opponent who had long since thrown in the towel. 

Excuses can be made on both sides. Auger-Aliassime did what was necessary and will no doubt have been relieved to claim only his second win of a dismal summer. Monfils, meanwhile, appeared to have been mis-sold the concept. Yet neither man exactly covered himself in glory. Auger-Aliassime’s initial protest seemed disproportionate, and for all that he later explained he was simply trying to stand up for himself and not let his opponent “take too much ground”, it did feel rather as though the Canadian had parlayed a molehill into something rather more mountainous.

In mitigation, it can hardly have helped that McEnroe was talking of Monfils “hamming it up” as early as the second changeover, or that Frances Tiafoe was warning: “He’s going to be playing games with you all night.” Why pour fuel on a fire that had shown no obvious sign of starting? It was not as though Auger-Aliassime returned to his chair ranting and raving about his opponent’s tactics. Monfils had not been playing particularly slowly, as so many news reports subsequently suggested. The Frenchman’s impromptu sit-down lasted about half the 30 seconds claimed by Auger-Aliassime, and there were no other significant delays. Yet things escalated to the point where, by the end of the first set, Auger-Aliassime could be heard proclaiming: “Tanking in the Laver Cup is crazy,” which risked inflaming the situation further.  

Neither was it Monfils’s finest hour. His subsequent dismissal of the episode as a “trifle” rather ignored the fact that his team-mates were reduced to labouring in vain to persuade him to put a shift in. As the early games demonstrated, a more sustained and determined application of Monfils’s fleet-footed defence and virtuoso shot-making would have posed Auger-Aliassime plenty of problems. Instead, as Rublev sank to his knees imploring, “Gaël, please”, an initially competitive match became a procession. 

Uncompetitive Laver Cup matches are hardly a new phenomenon, of course. Two years ago, when Team Europe clinched a fourth straight victory with a 14-1 rout at Boston’s TD Garden, everyone wondered where the event was going. Team World’s 13-2 victory this year showed that question is as pertinent as ever. The identity of the winning team may have changed, but the underlying issue remains unresolved; plus ça change, as some in Vancouver might say.

ATP tournament or exhibition? This year, the Laver Cup was neither. The lopsided nature of the contest made it unrecognisable as a tour event, while the absence of the big four, compounded by the unavailability of Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune, rendered it a shadow of the star vehicle of previous years. With Federer retired, and Nadal and Andy Murray likely to go the same way before long, the event needs bona fide champions if it is to live up to its extravagant billing. Instead, for the first time since the Laver Cup’s inception in 2017, neither team had a grand slam winner in its ranks. 

No wonder Federer expressed hope that Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz would turn out in Berlin next year. In the absence of the best two players in the world, the watching Swiss remained front and centre in Vancouver, just as he was during last year’s tearful farewell in London. Yet even a living legend like Federer can only do so much to compensate for a lack of competition. Ultimately, people pay to watch good tennis – be it an exhibition match or something more.

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As fans at the gates railed against lengthy bag checks and body searches, ramped up this year amid fears of environmental protests, spectators expecting to watch Novak Djokovic play tennis were instead treated to the singular sight of the defending champion drying the playing surface with a towel.

The chaos arose after officials allowed play to continue between Djokovic and his Argentinian opponent Pedro Cachin, who opened this year’s proceedings on Centre Court, despite light rainfall towards the end of the first set. Renaud Lichtenstein, the chair umpire, insisted play should continue until the set was complete, at which point the court was covered and the roof closed. By then, however, there was enough moisture on the turf to delay play for almost 90 minutes. 

Scenes that we thought had been consigned to history’s dustbin with the addition of a £100m retractable roof played out anew. Gerry Armstrong, the tournament referee, paced the court anxiously alongside various other officials, periodically feeling the grass to see if it was playable. Neil Stubley, the chief groundsman, who spends his working life tending to the grass as though it were a beloved family member, wore a furrowed brow.

Meanwhile, ground staff armed with leaf blowers were applauded on to the court by Djokovic, who broke off from chatting with Dan Bloxham, the club’s head coach, to urge the crowd to blow on the court. That at least brought some mirth to the proceedings, although it didn’t stop sections of the audience becoming restive. “Get on with it!” spectators implored officials.

When play finally resumed, Djokovic went on to complete a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victory, his 29th in a row at Wimbledon, where he has won seven of his 23 grand slam titles. Aside from conceding an early break with a double-fault, the Serb was in the driving seat throughout, immediately hitting back to level after that early aberration before moving smoothly through the gears after the rain delay.

“Strange circumstances with the roof being closed, and us delaying the match for almost an hour and a half,” said Djokovic following his first match since the French Open final. 

“It normally takes 10 to 20 minutes when the roof is closed for the air conditioning to do its job and the grass to dry and be ready for play. That was the case with Court One [where Iga Swiatek defeated China’s Zhu Lin]. 

“We saw that players came back after maybe 15 minutes to Court One, and they resumed play. But we didn’t and we couldn’t.

“Both of us players wanted to come out. We did several times, to show to the crowd that we want to play, we want to be there. But it was just too many places on the court which were too slippery and really moist. Touch the grass and your palm is completely wet.”

Djokovic will face Jordan Thompson in round two after the Australian came back from sets to love down to defeat Brandon Nakashima of the US. Taking advantage of the slick conditions, Thompson turned net rusher after falling behind to seal a 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory.

“I’ve seen a few guys have nightmares out there against him on Centre Court,” said Thompson, ranked 70, of the prospect of facing Djokovic. “Hopefully that won’t be the case for me. I’m going to have to play better than I did in the first two sets today, that’s for sure. 

“I’ve got to believe, as silly as it sounds, that I can win, or else there is no point going out there. I know the odds are firmly against me.”

Andrey Rublev, seeded seventh, marked his return to Wimbledon following last year’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 win over another Australian, Max Purcell. Rublev, who made his opposition to the Ukraine war plain last year in Dubai, where he scrawled “No war, please” on a TV camera lens, said afterwards that he felt last summer’s blanket ban was a mistake.

“We were talking, and I think we could find the solution,” said Rublev. “If we really want to help or do what is better for tennis and for the people, I think obviously there were better options. Not just to ban. 

“In the end, was no difference. They did only worse to themselves. So in the end, I think, that there were for sure options to do much better for everyone.”

Casper Ruud, the Norwegian fourth seed, came through 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 against French qualifier Laurent Lokoli, but Felix Auger-Aliassime was an early casualty, beaten 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 by Michael Mmoh of the US. It was a first main draw Wimbledon victory for Mmoh, a lucky loser ranked 119 in the world.

“I knew it was going to be tough and it was,” said Auger-Aliassime, who has been struggling with knee tendon injury and pulled out of Halle. “But it’s a grand slam. I wanted to come and give myself a chance.”

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One puzzle Alcaraz has struggled to solve, however, is Felix Auger-Aliassime. Going into their quarter-final showdown in Indian Wells, the big-serving Canadian was unbeaten in three previous meetings between the pair, his stranglehold over the fledgling rivalry underlined by Alcaraz’s failure to break serve in 33 return games across those matches.

The devil is in the detail, of course, and it is worth noting that Alcaraz retired with an injury midway through the first of those defeats, which came in the US Open quarter-finals in 2021, while the next two matches were played on indoor hard courts, where Auger-Aliassime tends to be at his most effective. The imperative for Alcaraz as the pair locked horns in the California desert was nonetheless clear: puncture the aura of invincibility surrounding Auger-Aliassime’s serve as early as possible.

On an absorbing night in the Coachella Valley, this simple but compelling dynamic made for a contest of electrifying intensity. Alcaraz went about his business briskly, whistling through his early service games, forever impatient for his next crack at his opponent’s delivery, always ready to delve deeply into his extensive repertoire. As the Spaniard went about his work with evident relish, fashioning an early break point only to come out on the wrong end of a cat-and-mouse baseline exchange, the quality of the shot-making and court coverage from both men was rarely less than breath-taking. If this was a glimpse into the future of the men’s game, bring it on. 

“I watched videos, of course, from the last matches that I played against him,” said Alcaraz after sealing a 6-4, 6-4 victory in an hour and 59 minutes. 

“It’s something that I was really focused [on] before the match, trying to return every serve, trying to play aggressively and taking the opportunity when he’s serving the second serve. It’s something that I was thinking about since the beginning of the match.”

The pivotal moment came in the fifth game, a miniature classic in which the momentum swung back and forth for 12 minutes before Alcaraz finally achieved the breakthrough he craved. Throughout, Auger-Aliassime, no doubt as conscious as Alcaraz of the mental edge conferred by his dominance on serve, fought tigerishly to hold. When the Spaniard fashioned two break points with a signature move, forcing his opponent off the baseline with a colossal forehand before feathering away a drop shot, Auger-Aliassime responded with an ace and a brilliant forehand pass. 

The Canadian’s serve bailed him out once again before Alcaraz won the point of the match, defending superbly out of both corners, conjuring a magnificent lob to get himself back in the rally, and then working his way forward to punch away a volley. Ever the showman, Alcaraz cupped his hand to his ear after that one, exhorting the already fevered crowd to new heights of delirium. Again, though, the chance went begging, an outstanding rally ending with an Alcaraz mistake. Yet by now the pressure on Auger-Aliassime was becoming intolerable. A double fault gifted Alcaraz a fifth opportunity and this time the Spaniard made no mistake, somehow spearing a forehand pass beyond Auger-Aliassime at full stretch to move 3-2 ahead. A case of 36th time lucky.

As Alcaraz bounced up and down in unbridled delight, his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, gestured to his temple. Ferrero, a former world No 1, knew the hard work was only just beginning and, sure enough, although Alcaraz continued to threaten with his return game, continually forcing Auger-Aliassime to raise his level merely to stay in touch, the Spaniard needed all his mental fortitude to see out the set. At 5-4, it all came down to a tale of two forehands, Auger-Aliassime failing to unload off that wing on his only break point of the set before Alcaraz stumbled in his gleeful enthusiasm to run around a backhand and blast an inside-in winner on set point.   

Having fought long and hard to achieve his first ever break against Auger-Aliassime, Alcaraz found the second rather easier to come by. From 40-30 up in the opening game of the second set, the Canadian produced three successive unforced errors. Alcaraz immediately ceded the advantage with some uncharacteristically poor decision-making, but relentless pressure from the Spaniard finally led to a decisive break in the ninth game, leaving him to seal his first victory over Auger-Aliassime with one last booming forehand.

“All I can say [is] that I took the opportunities this time,” said Alcaraz, who will reclaim the No 1 ranking from Novak Djokovic if he wins the title.

“I was really focused on the return today, [I knew] that it was really, really important for me. I never broke his serve until today, so it’s a good stat for me. I would say that the return was the key of everything.”

Beaten in the semi-finals by his countryman Rafael Nadal last year, Alcaraz will hope for better this time around against Jannik Sinner, the 11th seed, who ended Taylor Fritz’s reign as champion with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory. It will be their first meeting since Alcaraz won a titanic US Open quarter-final against the Italian six months ago. Another clash of generational talents awaits.

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The Australian Open is the happiest of slams for Tsitsipas, who revels in the passionate support of the local Greek community, making three semi-finals in the past four years. He moved a step closer to a fourth against Jannik Sinner on Sunday, resisting a wonderful fightback from the Italian to prevail 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 in exactly four hours. 

“It always reminds me of home a little bit when I’m here,” said Tsitsipas, the third seed, who has taken to embracing local idioms in his on-court interviews. “The conditions are similar. It’s not very humid, it’s not very tropical. I can say it’s similar to the Athenian Riviera.

“Another plus is that, wherever I look, I see Greek faces, I see Greek people speaking Greek. Of course, it’s very important when you’re far away from home to have that sort of feeling, to connect even more with the culture that you’re at. It feels very welcoming when you’re able to walk around and feel that. 

“It’s for sure my home slam, I would consider, because Melbourne is the second-biggest city after Athens with the biggest Greek population. I would consider it my home slam. The French people have Roland Garros, the Brits have Wimbledon, the Americans have the US Open. For me, it’s the Australian Open.”

For all the warm, fuzzy feelings Melbourne Park may inspire, Tsitsipas was made to work unexpectedly hard for the win. He had brushed aside Sinner for the loss of just nine games when they met in the quarter-finals last year and, when he pocketed the first two sets with a combination of irresistible serving and obdurate play from the back of the court, a repeat looked inevitable. 

Instead, Sinner kept his head up and began to establish command of the baseline exchanges, interspersing his penetrating play off the ground with some beautifully crafted dropshots. With Tsitsipas increasingly becalmed, Sinner broke early in each of the next two sets and had the momentum going into the decider. But a break in the sixth game proved decisive for the Greek, whose service recovered its earlier venom in the latter stages after he began to play with a softer wrist.

“It was all about getting myself relaxed and ready for the big battle in the fifth set,” Tsitsipas explained. “Things weren’t going my way after being two sets to love up. It seemed like the momentum switched dramatically, to me at least. There was a big gap that I couldn’t fill in. 

“But I made a few technical adjustments in the fifth, gave myself an opportunity to play a bit more loose. That really helped me serve better. I think I kept on moving. I kept on being active to be on these returns that I couldn’t get in the previous sets. That helped me.”

Sinner was crestfallen at the end, trudging wearily up the steps to the players’ tunnel. He had plenty to dwell on, having capitalised on just four of the 26 break points he fashioned over the course of the contest.   

“These kind of matches, it can go one way or the other,” said Sinner. “I had the momentum. I messed it up a little bit. I was serving good. The fifth set not so much. The momentum changed a little bit.”

Tsitsipas will now face Lehecka for a place in the last eight. The 21-year-old Czech, who had never won a grand slam match before this week, sealed a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3) win over Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian sixth seed was not the only big name to fall. On a bad day for Poland, Hubert Hurkacz followed his compatriot Iga Swiatek out of the tournament as Sebastian Korda, the 29th seed, followed up his shock victory over Daniil Medvedev by taking down the 10th seed 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7).

Amid the chaos that has enveloped the top half of the draw, Tsitsipas has been the one big name to keep his head while all about him have been losing theirs. If he can maintain that equilibrium, the happy slam may yet afford him unprecedented joy.

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It took the 25-year-old Californian 10 months to achieve his initial goal of breaking into the top 10 for the first time, after which he set his sights on securing a place at the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin. An early loss at the Paris Masters appeared to dash those hopes, consigning him to the role of first alternate, and so Fritz retreated to Switzerland with his girlfriend, Morgan Riddle, for a well-earned break. 

Once again, though, there would be an 11th-hour breakthrough: Carlos Alcaraz, the world No 1, withdrew from the finals with an abdominal injury, opening the door for Fritz to make his debut at the elite eight-man event. 

Among the many lessons the American will take away from a season that has brought a first Masters 1000 crown in Indian Wells as well as titles in Eastbourne and Tokyo, a recognition that good things come to those who wait will be among the more memorable.

It therefore came as no surprise that, with a place in the semi-finals at stake in a winner-takes-all showdown with fellow debutant Felix Auger-Aliassime, Fritz was content to bide his time. 

For two and a half hours, the pair served each other to a standstill in the quick conditions at the Pala Alpitour. With neither man able to fashion a break point, Fritz capitalised on a spate of unforced errors from his opponent to secure the opener on a tiebreak, while Auger-Aliassime grasped the nettle in the second-set breaker, conjuring two heavy forehands from 5-5 to draw level. 

But in the fifth game of the decider, the same wing betrayed the fifth-seeded Canadian, an unforced error handing Fritz his first opportunity to break. A timid return from the American saw the chance go begging but, as Auger-Aliassime continued to rack up forehand errors, some fine defending on the stretch finally got Fritz over the line at the fourth time of asking. Auger-Aliassime did not win another game, Fritz sealing a 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 victory. Once again, his patience was rewarded.

“If you play a bad game, you get broken, you’re probably going to lose the set. That’s just how it is. You can’t afford to have throwaway games on the serve,” said Fritz, who will play Novak Djokovic in Saturday’s semi-finals. 

“I think that was probably my biggest issue against Casper [Ruud, a three-set winner over Fritz on Tuesday] a couple of days ago: the first game I served. I kind of just gave it to him. You can’t do that. Holding serve by far is the most important thing on this court, holding serve and returning.”

Fritz, the world No 9, did that to perfection against Auger-Aliassime, winning 88% of his first serve points and fending off the only three break points he faced, all of which came in the second set. Those missed opportunities were a body blow to the ambitions of the sixth-ranked Canadian, who leaves Turin with only a first win over Rafael Nadal to show for his efforts, having lost his opener against Casper Ruud in straight sets.

“I had chances in the second set,” mused Auger-Aliassime, whose outstanding form over the indoor season has brought titles in Florence, Antwerp and Basel as well as a place in the top 10. 

“I had a clear chance on a return. Probably would have helped to win that set not in the tiebreak the way I did.

“After the third set, bad choices, bad execution in some parts. Maybe I lost the focus a little bit.”

That is not a luxury Fritz will be able to afford against Djokovic, certainly not if he is to prolong his record of going on to claim the title on the three occasions he has reached a semi-final this year. The Serb, who has been in magisterial form so far this week, has won all five of their previous meetings.

Earlier in the day, Rafael Nadal ended his season on a positive note, defeating Casper Ruud 7-5, 7-5 to earn his first victory at the finals and break a run of four consecutive defeats.

“It’s about finishing the season with a victory,” said Nadal, who will play a series of exhibition matches against Ruud in South America and Mexico before his thoughts turn to the defence of his Australian Open title. 

“It’s about seeing myself competitive against a great player with chances of victory. 

“It’s about having the personal satisfaction that, after a couple of very tough days, I went yesterday on the practice courts and made a very good practice with the right attitude.

“Today was a good level of tennis for me, serving well, playing with more determination at the right moments. Now is the moment to back home couple of days, then a tour in Latina America.”

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A little experience goes a long way in such circumstances, which does much to explain how Casper Ruud, a semi-finalist at the season-ending showpiece last year, opened his latest campaign with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 victory over Felix Auger-Aliassime in Turin.

On form, it was not the outcome many would have anticipated. While Ruud, the Norwegian third seed, arrived in north Italy with just two wins from his past four tournaments, Auger-Aliassime earned his place in the eight-man field with a sequence of three straight indoor titles last month, part of a 16-match winning streak that has lifted him to a career-high ranking of sixth. 

With Ruud widely regarded as a clay-court specialist, at least until his barnstorming run to the US Open final two months ago, the big-serving Auger-Aliassime might also have expected to be the chief beneficiary of the fast indoor hard court in use at the Pala Alpitour.

But things do not always pan out as expected at the dog-end of the season, and it was Ruud who proved the more clinical performer, converting the only break point of the contest to seal victory in an hour and 51 minutes. Tiredness, the 23-year-old said, could wait a week or so.

“Here we are, the last tournament of the year, let’s try to give it the last push, give everything you have left in the tank,” said Ruud following his third consecutive straight-sets win over Auger-Aliassime. “It’s been a long year, like everyone knows. Most of us have played close to 70, even 80 matches this year. It’s going to be obvious that some of us are quite tired.

“But you’re trying to think it’s the last push, it’s the last sort of sprint. If you are running a marathon, you are on the last turn, I guess, before the finish line is there. We still have some to give.”

Ruud, who added that facing the Canadian in his opener, before either man had fully adjusted to the surface, “could have been an advantage for me”, said the quick conditions had helped him on serve. Yet he also attributed his positive start partly to the feelgood factor generated by his strong showing last year.

“I was serving 215 kilometres an hour, which is not very regular for me,” he told Amazon Prime’s Annabel Croft. 

“So I think we’re getting a little bit of help from the altitude, and then the court plays pretty fast. It’s quite slippery and [the ball] stays low – maybe not the conditions I would wish for if I could choose my playing conditions.

“But I’ve been able to come here [a few] days in advance and prepare, and knowing that I was able to perform well here last year, that’s kept my motivation and confidence high. The last weeks have been a bit of a struggle but, as soon as I got here, I felt great right away and have been practising well.”

Auger-Aliassime played down suggestions that the lingering effects of a cold may have contributed to what was a surprisingly lacklustre display by his recent standards. The defeat had more to do with poor returning and “a few bad mistakes” in the second set, said the 22-year-old, although he acknowledged the unique mental challenges involved in competing at the finals. 

“It’s kind of strange,” said Auger-Aliassime. “You have this stress and pressure, like this energy to qualify for this event the whole year, especially at the end of the year, the way I did it. It’s like you go there, but there’s still matches to play and compete. It’s not like, ‘Now I qualified and I can rest.’

“I was thinking that would be a mistake, to come here and act like I’m happy and this is it. I felt good today. No problem, actually. I was thinking, ‘Maybe my first time. I’m not going to feel great.’ [But] from the first balls, I felt good, I felt like normal.”

With Rafael Nadal awaiting on Tuesday night, a rapid return to normal service will be vital for Auger-Aliassime’s hopes of advancing from Green Group. In the night session, Nadal, the top seed, was beaten 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 by Taylor Fritz. The American eighth seed will face Ruud next.

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Maybe it was the unseasonably chilly weather, maybe it was the emotional hangover from watching his beloved Real Madrid win the Champions League the previous evening, but Nadal had not been himself. Opportunities were spurned, errors committed, the first set dropped. Now the Spaniard had levelled proceedings and held a break point to move ahead for the first time.

Auger-Aliassime, whose brilliant attacking play had so compounded Nadal’s initial discomfort, fired a first serve wide to Nadal’s forehand. The response was short, invitingly so, and the 21-year-old thumped a backhand approach shot into the opposite corner. His sharpness at the net had already reaped dividends and, as Nadal threw up a high defensive lob, the Canadian’s attacking instincts seemed certain to prevail again. 

Auger-Aliassime clumped an overhead into the space vacated by Nadal, whose latest attempt to ward off a chronic foot injury was receiving its sternest test of the fortnight. Somehow, the 13-time champion arrived in time to scrape back a weak reply. Again, the Canadian ninth seed blasted the ball into the open court; again, Nadal sprinted off in pursuit. Auger-Aliassime had already seen off two break points in the game and now, with the court at his mercy, his recovery from 0-40 looked a formality. But Nadal’s powers of retrieval had him spooked. Trying to bring down the guillotine, he overpressed his smash and the ball sailed long. Cue a quiet clench of the fist from Nadal and smiles of relief in his support box. Finally, he was in front. Another defining passage in his storied career had been written.

Except, it hadn’t. 

It has been said that to achieve great things, one must learn to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Never has Auger-Aliassime looked more so. His service is a formidable weapon, and it took Nadal a set and a half to find his range on the return. Once he did, Auger-Aliassime was rarely at ease again, yet it didn’t matter. Time and again, the world No 9 ceded ground early in his service games only to come roaring back. It was a hugely impressive display, one brimming with flair and variety, and it augurs well for the 21-year-old that, on the surface where he is at his least effective, he became only the third man in 18 years to push Nadal to a fifth set at Roland Garros. 

“In the end, the sport is normally very simple,” said Nadal, who was watched from the front row of the president’s box by his uncle and former coach Toni Nadal, now the coach of Auger-Aliassime. “When you play better you have better chances; if you play worse, then you have of course less chances, no? In that case, when I played well, I won the match. When I played not that well, I had a lot of troubles, no? First set I didn’t play well, so I lost. And then, after the first set and a half, I started to play much better, in my opinion, much more aggressive. 

“I played a good end of the second set and, I think, a very good third set. Then I made a super mistake at the beginning of the fourth, when the situation already changed and I was in control of the match, and then I suffered. But the most important thing is that I played a good fifth set, and especially the last three, four games I played with the right dimensions, so very happy for that.”

Perhaps the biggest compliment you can pay Auger-Aliassime is that he forced Nadal to redefine the defining moment. The quality, resilience and self-belief he showed to capitalise on a slew of forehand errors from the Spaniard at the start of the fourth set obliged Nadal to win the match all over again. To do so, Nadal went to a place where few can follow. 

From 3-3 in the decider, Nadal lost only three more points, his court coverage and ball-striking of a quality that momentarily made you forget he is managing a chronic foot injury and preparing to celebrate his 36th birthday in four days’ time. Instead, to Auger-Aliassime’s despair, there came only reminders of his enduring quality. A running forehand pass set up a break point. A muscular sprint into the forecourt saw him convert it, Nadal tucking an irretrievable ball down the line for a winner. He sealed victory with a final foray to the net, a tactic that served him well down the stretch, as a cat-and-mouse exchange of angles ended with one last forehand winner into the open court. 

“He raised his level when he needed to,” reflected Auger-Aliassime, whose . “He was serving well in the fifth set, playing well behind the serve, being very aggressive, and I think he took it even higher, one step further, from 4-3. Honestly, I didn’t play a bad game. I did what I had to do. He was dictating, aggressive when he needed to be, and also defending really well.”

Now comes another meeting with Djokovic, against whom Nadal will need all those qualities and more. The world No 1 passed a potentially tricky test against Diego Schwartzman with flying colours, brushing aside the Argentinian 15th seed 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 to keep his title defence on course. 

“Nadal, obviously, [was a] well-anticipated match when the draw came out for a lot of people,” said Djokovic, who has yet to drop a set this year. “I’m glad that I didn’t spend too much time on the court myself up to quarter-finals, knowing that playing him in Roland Garros is always a physical battle, along with everything else. It’s a huge challenge, and probably the biggest one that you can have here in Roland Garros. I’m ready for it.”

Carlos Alcaraz booked a last-eight appointment with Alexander Zverev, battling past Russia’s Karen Khachanov 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 to reach his second grand slam quarter-final.

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This time was different. Auger-Aliassime did things we didn’t know he could do – not at this rarefied level, at any rate. He bullied Medvedev from the back of the court. He picked holes in the Russian’s defensive game. He traded backhands with his opponent, probing the world No 2’s stronger wing, and frequently came out on top. He out-served Medvedev, and not just for a set or two. Over the course of the full four hours and 42 minutes, Auger-Aliassime landed more first serves than his opponent and won more points when he did so. He struck 18 aces, three more than Medvedev, and hit five fewer double faults. He even won an identical number of points, with the final tally 182 apiece.

And no, he couldn’t maintain it. Auger-Aliassime’s boldness and athleticism carried him to the threshold of victory, only for Medvedev to slam the door in his face just as he had one foot poised over the doormat. That, though, is an issue of experience rather than ability. The Canadian has never been in such a position before, certainly not on a stage of this magnitude. But he is 21 years old, and the match point he held at 5-4 in the fourth set was on Medvedev’s serve, which came down at 135mph. Next time, Auger-Aliassime might find a way to put the ball back in court. Better yet, it might be him serving. Either way, he will learn.

“I always believed I could produce what I did tonight,” said the ninth-seeded Auger-Aliassime.” I showed it, but definitely it’s the difference between knowing that you have this inside of you, and actually showing up and doing it and being close from winning – one point close.  

“It’s good for myself. It’s a world of competition, so at the end of the day I think it’s a good message that I send to my fellow players, the people I’m competing with. I’m ready to test myself with the best, and I have proved it now time after time.”

And so we learned, lest we doubted it, that Auger-Aliassime is surely a grand slam champion in waiting. We also learned that Medvedev, who had only once previously won from sets to love down, has the resilience and desire to get over the line when he is not at the top of his game. Above all, we discovered that, for all the Russian’s apparent insouciance, chinks remain in his mental armour. Over the past 10 days, Medvedev has repeatedly spoken of the confidence he feels following his victory at Flushing Meadows. Yet he conceded after the match that he had “zero confidence after the first two sets”, a reminder of how fragile self-belief can be in a sport played principally between the ears.

“He was playing insane, better than I have ever seen him play, at least against me or in practice,” said Medvedev after his 6-7 (4-7), 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5, 6-4 victory. “I cannot watch every match of his, so maybe he did show this level before. Me, I have never seen him play like this. It was unreal.  And I didn’t show exactly my best level, I was missing just a little bit too much. So in the third set I had zero confidence in myself and in the outcome of the match. I just tried to fight.”

Medvedev admitted to Jim Courier in his on-court interview that he had asked himself what Djokovic would do in such a situation. The boos that ensued were predictable, but there is something disarming in Medvedev’s readiness to acknowledge his relative standing in the game. He may be the US Open champion and world No 2, but success has not blinded him to the gulf that remains between himself and the big three of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. In seeking to emulate their ability to win by dint of sheer willpower and desire, to find a way through with whatever they have on any given day, Medvedev will do himself no harm.

“That played out very well, because I’m still young, and I have to take what I can from the best,” said the 25-year-old. 

“I was there between the sets, zero confidence in myself and the outcome of the match, and I was like, ‘What would the best players in the world do?’ Which I’m part of, but still young and still very far [away] in grand slam titles and all like this. 

“During the match, as soon as I was down a little bit, I was like, ‘Just be like Novak. Show him that you are better.’”

Medvedev’s next task is to impart a similar message to Stefanos Tsitsipas, who he will meet in Friday’s semi-finals. The Greek fourth seed, who is through to the last four for the third time in four years, enjoyed a comfortable 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Jannik Sinner, the 11th-seeded Italian.

“It was a great performance from start to finish, with no doubt and a clear game plan,” said Tsitsipas, who will have been grateful to get off court in a shade over two hours following his five-set marathon against Taylor Fritz in the previous round. “It was the most consistent and the best match I’ve had in the tournament.”

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The Russian’s level-headed approach to the game served him well against Ilya Ivashka at the Paris Masters, where a mid-match lull threatened to derail his late-season bid to unseat Novak Djokovic as world No 1 at the first hurdle. The contest was fast becoming a formality when Medvedev, seeking to avenge a Davis Cup defeat to the Belarusian three years ago in their only previous meeting, raced to a 5-1 first-set lead. But three break points quickly came and went for the US Open champion, and four games would pass before he held another.

At the age of 27, Ivashka has enjoyed a breakout year, marking his Wimbledon debut with a run to the last 16, reaching the third round of the US Open for the first time, and winning his maiden ATP Tour title in Winston-Salem to belatedly crack the top 50. The Belarusian has form for improbable comebacks, too, having recovered from a set and a break down to defeat Alexander Zverev in Munich earlier this season.

It was not to be for Ivashka on this occasion, however, an error-strewn game at 5-5 stalling his momentum and enabling Medvedev, who blew ironic kisses to the overexuberant fans who tried to distract him as he served for the match, to regain control. 

“The last time we played he beat me at Davis Cup. I’ve known him since the Futures and I knew that he’s a great player on the rise, so I knew it would not be easy,” said Medvedev, the second seed, whose hopes of dethroning Djokovic as world No 1 rest on making up an 800-point deficit. 

“At the beginning of the match [my level] was good but in the middle of the match there were some things I could do better. The most important thing is the victory. It doesn’t matter how you play in the first round. The one who raises his level throughout the tournament is the one who will win it.”

That is a sentiment that Djokovic, who survived a scare of his own against Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, will appreciate. In his first singles outing since losing to Medvedev in the US Open final, a defeat that quashed his attempt to complete a calendar-year grand slam, the Serb was pushed to a deciding set by the 40th-ranked Fucsovics, his relief evident in the passion with which he celebrated after finally prevailing 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

“It was a great fight and a great opening match for me,” said Djokovic.  “I did not expect anything, but I knew it was not going to be an easy match.”

Earlier on Wednesday, an arm injury forced Stefanos Tsitsipas, the third seed, to retire from his opening match against Alexei Popyrin while trailing 4-2. The Greek declined to reveal the exact nature of the problem, but was in obvious pain after several shots, grimacing and grasping the area around his right elbow. Tsitsipas said that, with the ATP Finals looming, his retirement was partly a precautionary measure.

“I haven’t retired once in my life, and it was something that I had to do today,” said Tsitsipas, who added that he would rest the injury and seek treatment. “I’m trying to be cautious for the next tournament, which is the most important one for me. I have had an issue [with the arm] for quite a while now. It has gotten bigger in the last couple of weeks, so I’m just trying to protect it.”

Andrey Rublev also fell, beaten 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) by the in-form American Taylor Fritz, although – given the Russian fifth seed’s patchy form since Indian Wells – arguably the bigger upset lay in Carlos Alcaraz’s 7-6 (7-1), 7-5 victory over Jannik Sinner. Having edged ahead of Hubert Hurkacz in the race to Turin by claiming a fourth title of the year in Antwerp and reaching the semi-finals of the Vienna Open, Sinner once more finds his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals in doubt. Alcaraz, however, continues to go from strength to strength, with the eighth-seeded Sinner his third top-10 scalp in two months following wins over Tsitsipas at the US Open and Matteo Berrettini in Vienna. 

“I think that I played really, really aggressive, more than him,” said the 18-year-old Spaniard, whose rivalry with the Italian promises to be a staple at the top of the men’s game in years to come. “I think that this was one of the keys, not to let him play aggressively during the match. I was focused all the time on what I had to do.

“Every top-10 player is so difficult to play. Against Tsitsipas, [Alexander] Zverev, Berrettini, now Sinner, it’s really tough to play. Jannik is playing really good tennis right now. I think he’s feeling so comfortable playing. I know against these kinds of players I have to play my best tennis.”

Any hopes Felix Auger-Aliassime harboured of reaching Turin were quashed by lucky loser Dominik Koepfer, who followed up his opening round win over Andy Murray with a 6-3, 7-5 win victory over the ninth seed. 

“I fought against myself at some times,” said Auger-Aliassime. “I leave here disappointed.” 

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“It’s special when you play for more than just yourself, everyone would agree with that assessment,” said John Isner on the eve of the event, as he looked ahead to Team World’s prospects of claiming a first victory in a tournament that has become tennis’s answer to the Ryder Cup.

But it’s one thing to talk about camaraderie, quite another to demonstrate it.

While Isner and Nick Kyrgios, Laver Cup veterans both, spoke earnestly and eloquently of the special appeal of a team event in what is, for the most part, an unrelentingly individual sport, their Team Europe counterparts channelled a more relaxed and jovial vibe. Andrey Rublev had not even started answering his first question before he dissolved into laugher. “They are making fun of me,” he smiled, looking down the table at his team-mates. Bjorn Borg joked about relations between his native Sweden and Casper Ruud’s Norway. And when one questioner cut out after offering greetings from the Novak Djokovic Tennis Centre in Belgrade, Daniil Medvedev quipped, “Novak has to work on the Wi-Fi in his centre”, before suggesting that he wouldn’t be playing doubles because “I’m not really good.”

It helps that Team Europe has six of the world’s top-10 players. An unbeaten record in the Laver Cup also goes a long way towards alleviating any sense of pressure. And, of course, you might expect a side captained by John McEnroe and spearheaded by Nick Kyrgios to have a certain brooding intensity relative to a team led by Borg, the serene Swede they once called the ice man of tennis. 

The real proof of unity comes on court, however – and there too Team Europe had the edge. The opening match pitted a pair of Laver Cup debutants against one another, the 10th-ranked Ruud taking on Reilly Opelka, the world No 19. With the big-serving Opelka struggling to make his power tell in what he later called “the slowest conditions I’ve ever played in”, Ruud’s superior consistency proved decisive, the Norwegian seizing an early break to lay the foundations for a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victory. 

So how was it, Opelka was asked afterwards, having the likes of McEnroe and Kyrgios in his corner? Nice, replied the American, who said he could see how McEnroe’s competitive spirit and positivity once made him such a great player. Then came the killer caveat: “At the end of the day, I’ve played 20 weeks this year – I know my game the best, I have the best feel for what’s going on out there.”

Asked a similar question, Ruud offered a significantly warmer response. “Borg is one of the first real legends, and to have him on the bench is incredible, it’s been a dream of mine,” said the Norwegian, the beneficiary of some animated tactical advice from Alexander Zverev midway through the second set. “It’s a great feeling, I have great team-mates. It’s a really fun experience.”

The entertainment factor was ramped up further when Roger Federer, the event’s godfather, appeared in the stands early in the first set. It says something about the stature of a player when he receives the loudest cheer of the night without actually picking up a racket, but such is the status of the Swiss, who is convalescing after his latest bout of knee surgery. “The crowd was going crazy, it gave me chills,” said Ruud. “The hair was rising on my arms.”

The Team World challenge looked to be on a similarly upward trajectory when Felix Auger-Aliassime took the opening set against Matteo Berrettini. Full of confidence after his run to the US Open semi-finals, the 11th-ranked Canadian looked poised to repeat his recent victory over Berrettini in Cincinnati when he led 7-5 in the match tiebreak, only for the Italian to complete his recovery with a 6-7 (3-7), 7-5, 10-8 victory. 

One for the team, perhaps, Matteo? “I felt a different energy,” said Berrettini after a contest that, at two hours and 52 minutes, was the longest in the competition’s short history. “I was playing for my team, not just for myself. It felt great, and they helped me a lot.”

In another thrilling finish, Rublev recovered from 6-2 in the match tiebreak against Diego Schwartzman to give Team Europe a 3-0 lead. Schwartzman stood within two points of the match at 8-5, before Rublev clawed his way back to 9-8. The Russian squandered the match point with a double fault, but he recovered to win a lung-busting 24-shot rally on his second, slotting away a forehand volley to complete a 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 win. 

Team World belatedly got a point on the board when Isner and Denis Shapovalov beat Berrettini and Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 10-1 in the doubles. Given the format of the competition, which sees two points awarded for a win on the second day, and three on the final day, there is still plenty to play for.  

“I think we’ve got a great team spirit,” said McEnroe, who will be eager to harness the support of the home crowd on day two. “But we’ve got to step up.”

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