Casper Ruud and Rafa Jodar combined to start and finish Friday’s opening stage of the Laver Cup as their victories sent Europe into a 2-1 lead over Rest of the World in London.

Norway’s Ruud began day 1 play with a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 10-8 defeat of Argentina Francisco Cerundolo while Spanish prodigy Jodar finished off the programme 6-2, 6-4 ovr Alexander Bublik in a winning debut at the team exhibition conceptualised by Roger Federer in 2017 to hour is tennis hero Rod Laver.

Jodar, who turned 20 only days ago, spent 84 minutes in adding a point for Europe coached by French legend Yannick Noah and earning his own 38th match win of this breakthrough season.

“It was a pleasure to represent Team Europe for the first time. I felt great on court. I played against a tough player… I think the atmosphere was great, so thank you everyone for coming” the winner said.

The unpredictable Bublik was unable to match it with the Spanish youngster ranked 14th 

Jodar won eight of his final nine service points for the win. Jodar and Carlos Alcaraz combined for a one-two punch in the concluding doubles rubber, defeating Bublik and Taylor Fritz to end the day with a 3-1 European lead

Main photo:- Casper Ruud opens the scoring for Team Europe – ISF Ltd

Jannik Sinner on Friday announced another injury setback, with the world No. 1 withdrawing from the September start of the China Open in Beijing.

The Italian who has not played since defending his Wimbledon title in July, has been on the injury list ever since, missing the Masters events in Canada and Cincinnati and skipping the US Open. 

Sinner won the Beijing event a year ago and could  now be in doubt for the Shanghai Masters next month.

“Hello everyone, Jannik here,” Sinner posted on social media.

“I want to send the warmest greetings to the Chinese fans. I’m very sorry to announce that I won’t be able to play in Beijing this year.

“My knee is not there, where I would like [it] to be, and I am not ready to compete yet. But I will do everything possible to be there on court as soon as I can.

“What I miss the most is, of course, the tournament, the fans, and the atmosphere. I’ve had a great, great time in the past, winning the title also last year, and I’m very disappointed that I cannot defend it this year, but I’m very happy to come back next year. 

“So I wish everyone a very good tournament and I’ll see you all very soon on court again.”

This season has been a roller coaster for the 24-year-old who won five Masters 1000 titles in a row in 2026: Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome.

Main Photo:- Jannik Sinner won Beijing trophy in 2023. – by ISF Ltd

The inadvertent OG of tennis influencers – John McEnroe – has not time for the current wave of social media types who were granted media credentials at the US Open to try and boost the sport among the Gen Z audience.

Mac, who sparked plenty of controversy during his career in the 1980s and 1990s, has spoken out on a podcast about his aversion to the concept of trying to spark tennis interest among an audience that barely knows of its existence.

 “It’s pretty obvious what my view is on social media from the fact that I’m not on it at all. People keep telling me you have to be on there to have a presence, to make sure people still care about you.”

Some of the more than 100 tennis novice influencers given media badges at the Open created minor disturbances at the Grand Slam, by filming with bright ring lights during the middle of matches, among other breeches of the sport’s etiquette.

“As for these people being at tennis matches and disturbing the players. I see why the US Open might have wanted to bring new people in our sport,” McEnroe said.

“But it can’t be helpful if you are trying to play a big match and you look up and someone is filming themselves with a ring light and making a lot of noise doing it.”