Roger Federer has a reputation for his grace on the court but the Swiss tennis star proved he can show a bit of grit when needed with his inspiring sweary words for Alexander Zverev.
On Sunday Team Europe needed a win in the final game of the Laver Cup against the Rest of the World to secure a third title in a row.
It came down to a final tie break in the match between Zverev and Milos Raonic to decide where the cup would go. Before the tournament deciding breaker 'Fed' was seen giving advice to the young German and the swearing surprised most fans.
Federer's words, with the input from Rafael Nadal as well, clearly had the desired effect with Zverev going on to win the tie break 10-4 and win a third Laver Cup in-a-row for Europe.
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'Team World' had gone into the final day 7-5 down before a doubles win for John Isner and Jack Sock of Federer and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who replaced Nadal.
Taylor Fritz then beat Dominic Thiem but Fed's win over Jon Isner and Zverev's 6-4 3-6 10-4 wrapped up a 13-11 win for the Europeans.
During the tie break the 20 time Grand Slam winner could barely watch, such was the tension in Switzerland.
After securring the winning points for his team Zverev said, "It was an unbelievable weekend. They [Team World] were one or two points away from winning it all.
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"Hopefully many of you will play Laver Cup many times but it was an incredible weekend.
"Those guys were screaming at me in the locker room before the tie-break. They told me this is how I can turn my season around and get my confidence back.
"I'm super happy and super thankful to Rafa, Roger and the rest of the team. Without them on the bench, I wouldn't have done it."
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Tennis news, Rafael Nadal, roger federer
