"Say Roger Federer will be proud" - Frances Tiafoe & Ben Shelton devise hilarious strategy to play mind games with Carlos Alcaraz at Laver Cup

Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton hatched a hilarious scheme to unsettle Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 Laver Cup. The moment came during Shelton's match against Alcaraz on Saturday, 21 September, which was the second day of the tournament.

At the start of the match, Team Europe were trailing Team World, with the latter having established a 4-2 lead earlier in the day after Tiafoe registered a comeback win over Daniil Medvedev. As a result, Shelton and Alcaraz's contest was a crucial one, as a win for Team Europe could level things up, but a loss could worryingly increase their gap with Team World.

Alcaraz, clinched the first set 6-4 and looked in cruise control in the second after breaking Shelton to lead 4-3. Here, a brief break ensued, as both 21-year-olds returned to their respective benches for some valuable advice from their respective captains and teammates.

Knowing that he had to do something to unsettle the Spaniard, who was particularly devastating with his first serve, Ben Shelton turned to Frances Tiafoe for advice. Tiafoe promised Shelton that Alcaraz would miss his first serve on the next game.

Quite funnily, Shelton, in response, suggested to Tiafoe that Alcaraz needs to be told Roger Federer would be proud of the Spaniard's performance. Tiafoe agreed and echoed his compatriot's suggestion before giving him a pat on the back and walking away.

Carlos Alcaraz has been buzzing recently owing to Roger Federer himself watching him live in action, first-hand, at the 2024 Laver Cup. Presumably, Shelton and Tiafoe's hilarious mind game strategy may have been to make the Spaniard nervous and excited in a bid to disturb his so-far dominant serve.

"I promise you he'll miss the first serve," Tiafoe told Shelton

"I'll say Roger will be proud," Shelton suggested to Tiafoe.

"Yeah, yeah... say Roger will be proud of you," Tiafoe responded.

After both Shelton and Alcaraz got up to go to their respective ends and resume play, cameras did catch some words being exchanged. The Spaniard though, laughed it off and went on to level things up for Team Europe by winning the second and decisive set 6-4.

However, Day 2 ended with the overall points tally heavily in Team World's favor, and Team Europe will need to have a fantastic Day 3 to take back the Laver Cup crown.

Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Alejandro Tabilo's heroics put Team World in pole position to clinch Laver Cup 2024

Taylor Fritz at the Laver Cup (Source: Getty)

Carlos Alcaraz's efforts had momentarily ensured parity among the two teams at the 2024 Laver Cup, but it didn't last long as Taylor Fritz produced another emphatic win over Alexander Zverev.

Fritz has been on a hot streak against the World No. 2 recently, having got the better of the German at both the Wimbledon Champions and the US Open. The American's win once again opened a two-point gap, with Team World leading 6-4.

The gap would be further widened by Team World's doubles pairing of Ben Shelton and Alejandro Tabilo. The two lefties combined brilliantly to make short work of Team Europe's Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas. As things stood at the end of Day 2 and stand at the start of Day 3, it's an 8-4 lead for Team World.

Day 3's matches at the 2024 Laver Cup will see Medvedev play Shelton, Zverev clash against Tiafoe, Alcaraz locking horns with Fritz, and Tiafoe and Shelton vs Ruud and Alcaraz in doubles.