By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, September 22, 2023

 

"This is a great test for an event that I believe in, the Laver Cup," Team World captain John McEnroe said.

Photo credit: Laver Cup Facebook

Multiple missions intersect among the lines at Laver Cup this weekend.

Team World aims to defend the Laver Cup for the first time, while competing stars assemble to solidify the team competition’s future.

Halep on Ban: It's Insane

This is the first Laver Cup in which none of the Big 4—Laver Cup founder Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray—are playing.

The question is: Can Laver Cup survive and thrive without the iconic champions who joined forces to bring buzz and global popularity to the event?

Hall of Famer John McEnroe, who has captained Team World every year, sees this weekend in Vancouver as a proving ground for Laver Cup.

“I think this is, you know, a great test for an event that I believe in, the Laver Cup, because of what you just talked about there: the opportunity,” McEnroe told the media in Vancouver at the pre-event press conference. “We don't have these all-time legends, but you could have future Grand Slam winners all over the place. You don't know. “

McEnroe sees Laver Cup as a tennis “gift” that must be respected—by the ATP, the players and the schedule—if it is to flourish on the level of golf’s Ryder Cup, which Laver Cup organizers have sometimes cited as a model.

“That's exciting. They get a chance to sort of stand up,” McEnroe said. “I think this is where hopefully tennis will realize the gift it was given—this is my opinion—by having Rod Laver and Roger Federer associated with a team event like this. I think it would be a shame if this thing didn't continue to, you know, exist in the calendar.”



A year ago, fans packed London’s O2 Arena to support Federer in his emotional farewell that saw a stacked Team Europe feature Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray.

This year, Top 10 standouts Holger Rune and Stefanos Tsitsipas are both out with injury. Team World captain Bjorn Borg’s squad stars Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Gael Monfils, Hubert Hurkacz, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Arthur Fils.

Four Americans—Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul and US Open semifinalist Ben Shelton—form the core for Team World, which also features Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and Argentinean Francisco Cerundolo.

Swiss superstar Federer has said the goal is to bring the team format to an individual sport—and spread tennis to cities that traditionally have not hosted the pro circuit.

“I think it's very exciting. I think the format seems to be rock solid,” Federer said. “As we went into it, I thought with the team about all different variations of the things that can happen, and so far it seems great. Obviously in five years we will have then been in many different places.

“Then eventually, I don't know, Laver Cup will then move away from North America and start to spread out a little bit more. Where that is is not known, but I'm looking forward to, you know, see Laver Cup going on the road, really, and to great places. So far I think we played in some amazing cities, amazing arenas with great crowds.”



Laver Cup’s tagline is “rivals become teammates.”

McEnroe asserts the team event needs full commitment from the ATP to continue to prosper.

“I love Laver Cup. I idolize Laver, Roger Federer: Never going to meet a classier individual than him,” McEnroe said. “I believe that the Laver Cup should be preserved. My days are numbered; I've been doing this for a while. They're going to get new captains soon, in the next year or two.

“It's been a lot of fun, but it's got to be supported by everyone in the sport, and I don't believe it has the total support, whether it's the ATP–we don't want to get into the politics of it. Sometimes scheduling is an issue with players, whether they're going to Asia or whether there's a Davis Cup.

“It seems like–it's frustrating to feel like–because the goal was to try to make it like golf's Ryder Cup where everyone was waiting until the last minute to see who was hottest, but everyone was available, and it doesn't seem to be the case now. It's tougher to get everyone committed.”

The 42-year-old Federer bid a tearful farewell to tennis standing shoulder to shoulder with rival Rafa Nadal at the 2022 Laver Cup in London’s O2 Arena.

Given Federer’s retirement, Nadal’s plan to play a farewell season in 2024 and the fact 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic is focusing his final years on major pursuits, can the Laver Cup succeed without its original star support?

The participation of Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz in the future could allay concerns about Laver Cup’s future, McEnroe suggests, as the competition, like the sport itself, transitions to its next era.

“I hope that the future is bright because I think it's a great event, and obviously the transition, needing -- Alcaraz isn't going to play this year, but having a guy like him would be huge,” McEnroe said. “So it needs to be supported, I believe, by the younger generation, because as you pointed out, you just mentioned the guys that aren't there, and I think that's not obviously helping the event.”