By Dan Weil | Saturday, September 22, 2018

CHICAGO—When my father took me to Chicago Bulls games at the old Chicago Stadium throughout the 1970s, we would sit in the top section (second balcony), as my dad wasn’t real big on spending up for tickets.

At least once during our long, steep climb to our seats, I saw someone resting on the stairs, tuckered out from the arduous journey.

Dimitrov: Check Your Ego

But I never sat in the very top row. I received that honor Friday night in my first visit to the “new” United Center for Laver Cup. Top row at the United Center rivals top row of Arthur Ashe Stadium for distance from the court.

I couldn’t tell for sure if Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer were on the sidelines toward the end of the David Goffin-Diego Schwartzman match (I’m pretty sure Federer wasn’t). But I did catch a peak of celebrity tennis journalists Peter Bodo, Doug Robson and Tom Perrotta, who also were in the media seats at the United Center’s pinnacle.

In any case, the view from the top was quite interesting for the doubles match between 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer and 14-time major champion partner Djokovic vs. Wimbledon and US Open doubles champ Jack Sock and Kevin Anderson.


Photo credit: Christopher Levy

In the past, Federer expressed disdain for Djokovic’s injury antics in big matches early in his career, but there was no sign of any tension between them Friday.

They interacted like good friends, with Federer skipping to meet his teammate between points. Both got a good chuckle when the Djoker nailed Federer with a forehand in the first set.

Not surprisingly, Fed showed some vintage volleying, and Djokovic’s volleying was competent-plus. Again as you’d expect, Federer served first and mostly came to the net on his own serve.

The Djoker mostly stayed back on his serve, but occasionally came in. Federer played the deuce court on returns, and the two both stayed back most of the time, presumably to better deal with the heat of Anderson and Sock’s serves.

Djokovic’s ground strokes obviously aren’t as dominant in doubles as they are in singles, given that doubles is a game of aggression, and Djokovic often plays defense in singles. But he certainly had his moments. On balance, the Anderson-Sock team was hitting the ball harder.

At first, the points weren’t very exciting, as the players seemed to be feeling out their partners as well as their opponents. But as time went on, there were some spectacular exchanges. Fed hit some amazing reflex volleys, as you’d expect. And Anderson showed some nice hands too, which you might not expect. Sock dominated at times with his forehand and stellar net play.

Federer and Djokovic gave each other a raucous chest bump after the first set, which they won, of course. I’m not sure they pulled it off cleanly—the chest bump that is. I’m also not sure if they were really fired up, or just trying to convince themselves and the crowd that they were fired up.

In any case, the crowd was certainly fired up. It was kind of funny to hear fans shout out, “Team World.”

Fed and Djokovic didn’t have a huge advantage in crowd support. In fact, I’m not sure they had an advantage at all.

The arena was nearly full, and the fans got loud, especially during the twists and turns of the deciding tiebreak between Schwartzman and Goffin, which the latter won staking Team Europe to a 3-0 lead.

I can’t tell you the decibel level in the final tiebreak of the doubles match as Team World edged the Federer-Djokovic pairing to get on the board.


Author and Chicago-area native Dan Weil in action

I left early to beat the traffic at 10:45 p.m.

You’ll be glad to know I made it home in 45 minutes after spending 90 minutes driving to the arena. In any case, please don’t tell my editor about the premature departure.