It was fun watching fierce rivals teaming up with each other at the Laver Cup. It was sad seeing the two legends, John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg, stepping down from their captaincy roles for their respective teams. Nevertheless, the seventh edition of the Laver Cup had it all! Be it joy, sorrow, or even controversies, fans witnessed everything over these three days. Talking about controversies, we saw a few things pop up here and there during the tournament. On one end, when Carlos Alcaraz was seen celebrating Team Europe’s victory, Stefanos Tsitsipas was spotted having a deep conversation with Ben Shelton. What could be the topic of discussion, though?

Was it anything related to what happened on Day 2 featuring Frances Tiafoe? Well, we saw Tiafoe face backlash from the fans when he reportedly made fun of Stefanos Tsitsipas alongside Shelton during the last match of Day 2. Ben Shelton and Alejandro Tabilo were taking on Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud in a doubles match. However, during the match, there was a moment where fans claimed that perhaps Tiafoe and Shelton shared a chuckle after the young American hit a shot in Stefanos Tsitsipas’ direction. 

Several fans lashed out at Tiafoe after that incident on social media. After seeing Tsitsipas having a chat with Shelton after Team Europe’s incredible win, several rumors have come up about what was the actual topic of discussion. Taking cues from the courtside mic at Laver Cup, fans claimed that Tiafoe revealed how he wanted to hit/beat Stefanos Tsitsipas. Looking at the expressions of Shelton and Tsitsipas, we could easily feel that there was a disagreement about something, but what was it? A fan wrote, “I think Stef is giving little bit of ‘clarifications’ talk to Ben. Maybe they heard something we (I) didn’t.“

Another one stated, “Oh he only asked Shelton « how much he wanted to hit Stef”. and like ‘you would totally do it if there isn’t a violation.’ Maybe many find it funny but to me it’s bullying.” A renowned YouTuber, Christian’s Court, highlighted one comment from the fan which said, “Every Laver Cup, I hate Tiafoe even more than before.” He perhaps wanted to make fun of the whole incident and try to gather support for the American tennis star. The YouTuber re-shared that post with the caption, “The Frances Tiafoe hate train is so interesting to me… especially when the fans driving it support players with far more questionable character.“

However, even that was backfired! Fans didn’t look too pleased with Frances Tiafoe‘s actions during the whole incident. The comment section in Christian’s Court’s post is a clear testament to that. Nevertheless, this isn’t the only incident where Stefanos Tsitsipas’ name popped up in bringing back memories of a controversial incident.

A reporter at Laver Cup brings back an old feud between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev

In 2018, a moment featuring Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev raised a few eyebrows in the tennis world. They were spotted engaging in a post-match argument. Although Medvedev won that match in Miami, he wasn’t pleased with the behavior of Tsitisipas. We saw a few verbal confrontations between the two. However, thankfully, it didn’t escalate further. That incident drew a lot of attention in the tennis world since they were both promising players. Then in 2023, Medvedev got himself into a similar post-match argument with Alexander Zverev.

So recalling some of these moments, a journalist asked Medvedev about how hard it was to sit on the same bench as those two and support them. In reply, the Russian said, “No, to be honest, I don’t think it’s that tough, because we, for sure when we play sometimes in the press conference, we can, you know, say some things. And we’re not best friends with them, that’s reality, but I think we all have respect for each other. So we’re here, we support 100 percent each other, and honestly, at least for me, it’s an easy switch.“

He further added, “So what happened with me, Sascha, Stefanos? Yeah, we played some matches. Sometimes we had some fights. Sometimes someone said something in the press conference. And it’s okay. In one month, we don’t remember it too much. We still rivals. But people tend to exaggerate it. Oh, my God, they hate each other. It’s such a crazy thing.” However, seeing Daniil Medvedev pulling in Stefanos Tsitsipas into the champagne celebration after their recent triumph over Team World at the Laver Cup might just have put this controversy to rest. At least for now! Share your thoughts on Team Europe’s incredible comeback against Team World.