Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock paired up to defeat Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 as Team World cut Team Europe’s lead to 7-5 at the end of the day two of the Laver Cup 2019. Playing his first doubles match at the Laver Cup, Stefanos Tsitsipas certainly was struggling with tactical signals.
During a changeover in the second set, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal told Stefanos Tsitsipas to give clear hand signals. Federer and Nadal were unable to stop laughing at the Greek’s bad hand signals during the match.
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It was certain that Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas had some communication gap during the match. The two clearly had little idea what each other was doing.
Nadal and Tsitsipas dropped the first set 6-3 after but the pair fought back hard in the second set to earn a lead of 4-1. The hilarious conversation between Federer and Nadal took place at the change of ends when Nadal smiled and walked over to the bench approaching Roger Federer to whisper something in his ear.
The pair then laughed before telling the 21-year-old that they required to be clear about the hand gestures at the time of service.
Rafael Nadal told Tsitsipas: “We just need to be a little bit more clear with the finger.”
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Stefanos Tsitsipas couldn’t understand Nadal as he asked: “Because they are watching?” The world No.2 had a laugh with the Swiss star and said, “Because I didn’t understand where you were going.”
Nadal then clasped his fist and said that this signal means you stay in your position. The Mallorcan further added: “Any finger, you cross.” The two sensations of tennis then had a good laugh about the same.
Absolute scenes.
Federer and Nadal giggling about hand signals.
— Matthew Willis (@MattRacquet) September 21, 2019
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The pair then went on to win the second set quite comfortably. However, they couldn’t cross the finishing line as they lost the super tiebreaker in the final set of the match.