Ben Shelton, about Laver Cup: "I love playing here, I really like this format"

The left-handed pairing of Ben Shelton and Alejandro Tabilo took to the court on Saturday to face Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud in the doubles match that closed day 2 of action at the Laver Cup. The duo John McEnroe chose to represent Team World was sensational, giving Team Europe a brutal 6-1, 6-2 thrashing.

After the match was over, both players spoke to the media and gave their thoughts after playing together for the first time and having such a dominant debut:

"I don't know what it is with this team format, this having your teammates out there I love it, you feel all the support from them and the captains. I love playing here, I really like this format," said Ben Shelton.

"I couldn't make it in singles, I couldn't make it with Carlitos, but Alejandro carried me on his back and we were able to get the win in doubles, so I'm very happy," concluded the American.

Tabilo was satisfied with the victory and happy with his performance, leaving behind what happened yesterday, in which he could not take advantage of a 5-1 lead against Dimitrov in the second set and ended up losing to the Bulgarian by a tight 7-6 and 7-6:

"I'm very happy, I got my first win here, happy to be with the team. The doubles was great, to be able to play with Ben, who makes things easier for you on the court with that tremendous serve...I'm very happy with the win.

As for going into Sunday with an 8-4 lead, Shelton did not hesitate to acknowledge the work of Taylor Fritz, who surprised everyone by defeating local Alexander Zverev in straight sets:

"Taylor Fritz was the most valuable player this day. He came out and played spectacular. With him on our team I feel very confident heading into day 3. I'm looking forward to battling alongside this team and I think we are in great shape right now."

For his part, captain John McEnroe congratulated his players and encouraged them to dream of two more wins to secure the title on Sunday:

"We put the team together, put these guys together and they stepped up tremendously. We're totally fired up for tomorrow."

"We need two more victories. We will go all out tomorrow in the doubles, I like our chances. Hopefully if we win that one we will need one more. We are facing four of the best players in the world and we know we have no margin for error but we are very excited. The first years it was pure drought but now we are with everything, we will try to win tomorrow," said the former world No. 1.

Team World has the advantage 8-4. Sunday's matches are worth 3 points each and the first to 13 points wins, which means that if McEnroe wins twice, he would retire from the captaincy by winning three Laver Cups in a row.