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The 5th annual Laver Cup concluded this past week. Team World won their first ever title after taking down Team Europe by a score of 13-8. It came down to the penultimate match between Francis Tiafoe facing off against Stefanos Tsitsipas. Tiafoe prevailed in a 3rd set tiebreaker to win the match, and the very first title for John McEnroe’s side. I truly love watching the Laver Cup every year, and I hope to attend the event some time in the future. Watching this year’s edition of the event got me thinking, what about this event makes it so appealing to me, and millions of other tennis lovers around the world.

The event was created by Roger Federer and his management company TEAM8. In partnership with Jorge Lemann, they were able to pair up with Tennis Australia to name the event after the great Rod Laver. Laver is a former World #1 for Australia. He is the only player since WWII to win the calendar slam (win all 4 majors in the same year), and is the only player in the history of the game to win the calendar slam in TWO separate years. He is often regarded as one of the all-time greats of the sport as he enjoyed a 16 year career that saw his retirement in 1979. The Laver Cup is known for the black hard courts that they play on. The color was picked in part because of its performance using raw materials. However, it was mainly picked because event director Steve Zacks knew it would stand out. The black courts in combination with the white court line and neon green ball make for a beautiful display to watch on TV. In combination with Team World and Europe having team colors of red and blue respectively, the Laver Cup is easy to tell apart from any other tournament held in the world.

The Laver Cup is, by definition, an exhibition. It is a wonderful opportunity for the world’s best players to become teammates rather than opponents. It is a 3 day event that consists of 3 singles matches, and 1 doubles match per day. A team wins points if they win their respective match. They receive 1 point for a win on day one, 2 points for day two, and 3 points for every match won on the third and final day. A team wins the event by reaching 13 total points. There are two teams that compete in the event, Team World and Team Europe. Each team has a captain, which is a legend of the game, in John McEnroe for Team World, and Bjorn Borg for Team Europe. The inaugural event was hosted in 2017 at the O2 Area in Prague, Czech Republic. The host city changes every year with it alternating between being held in Europe, and the rest of the World. The event in 2017 saw two teams that were extremely lopsided. Europe had all 6 players ranked in the top 19, with 5 of them in the top 10. The highest ranked player on Team World was ranked…… 16th, with 4 of their teammates being ranked in the 20’s or higher (Fun Fact: Kevin Anderson is the only top 10 ranked player to represent Team World at the Laver Cup in 2018). Even with these extremely uneven teams, we saw our first bit of Laver Cup Magic. The heavy underdogs, Team World, were able to take the event to a winner-take-all final match at the end of day 3. A singles match between Roger Federer and Nick Kyrgios (a replacement player), that came down to the final point. Roger won the match in a 3rd set tiebreaker 11-9, thus winning the first ever title for Team Europe.  

The “Laver Cup Magic” is something that draws me into the event more than anything. It seems to be an event that produces massive upsets by the most unlikely players. This could be in part due to the fact I made earlier about it being an exhibition, however, after watching a couple of editions, I truly believe these players are putting their all into the event. The greatest example of this is Jack Sock. Sock entered the 2017 Laver Cup as the 21st ranked singles player in the world. He had won some big matches, and yet his biggest career achievement, the 2017 Paris Masters Title, was just a couple of weeks away from him. In 2017 he went 2-1 in his doubles matches and lost his only singles match in a 3rd set tie breaker 11-9 to Rafael Nadal. He backed that up by entering the 2018 Laver Cup ranked in the top 20, after he continued his run of good form. This year he went an outstanding 3-0 in his doubles matches, while again losing his only single match in a 3rd set tiebreaker. Going into the 2019 edition of the tournament, Jack Sock’s career has taken a turn towards rock bottom. He came into the Laver Cup after failing to defend his title in Paris. On top of that he had also had a  terrible run in form,coming into the event ranked 210th in the world. If this was any other event Sock would have been left off of the Team World Squad, however, this is what makes the Laver Cup Magical. Sock went into the 2019 Laver Cup with little hope of winning any matches against a Team World Squad that had all 6 members ranked in the top 11. That’s when the previously mentioned “Laver Cup Magic” appeared. Sock went 2-1 in his doubles matches, including a massive win on day 3 that saw Team World take a late 9-8 lead on total points. He also went and won his first ever singles match at the Laver Cup, beating Fabio Fognini on Day 1 in straight sets. Jack Sock took his terrible 2019 season and went into this event with little to no hope. He came out of it scoring the most points out of any player who saw the court that weekend with 6 massive points (tied with Roger Federer). While Sock was unfortunately left off the 2021 Team World squad (2020 was canceled due to COVID), he returned to the team in 2022 to do the impossible. Team World, with the aid of 4 big points from Sock, were able to take down the giants of Team World for the first time in 5 attempts. Jack Sock will always be remembered for his ability to reach his “A” game in the Laver Cup. He has scored 20 points in his four appearances for Team World, with 19 of them coming in doubles. He has been a cornerstone for Team World and is a main reason for why this event is worth watching year after year.  

The Laver Cup has been the site for some of the oddest, and greatest match-ups in the history of tennis. It is likely the only place we’ll ever see the three greatest players of all time on one team, playing for the same goal. The 2022 edition of the Laver Cup has a slight asterisk next to it because of the overarching circumstances surrounding the event and the retirement of Roger Federer. This created a whole different scene and atmosphere for the event, and I think it was for the better. It allowed more people to tune into the event, and learn what this black court was all about. It also helped continue the tradition that got me first attracted to the event, seeing my favorite players play with each other in doubles. There have been very rare cases (oftentimes many years ago), where some of the top ranked singles players have played doubles together in tournaments. A famous example is the 2010 Toronto Masters where the #1 and #2 ranked singles players, Nadal and Djokovic respectively, paired up to take the doubles court. These occurrences are rare and hard to find. The Laver Cup provides a great opportunity to allow these great competitors to join sides for once. I remember back in 2017 when it was announced that Nadal and Federer would play doubles together. The pair that played so many times together as competitors would finally team up and play for the same team. The idea seemed too good to be true at the time. Little did we know that this was just the beginning. In later editions of the event we’ve seen some unique pairing; Federer and Djokovic (2018), Federer and Tsitsipas (2019), Federer and Nadal (2022). I think this is where the Laver Cup really separates itself from not only other exhibition events, but from different tournaments held all around the world.

At the end of the day, the question being asked is this, Is the Laver Cup a Good Event. For me personally, this question is easy, yes. I think the event does a great job in getting the top ranked players in the world to come together for a weekend at the end of September to have some fun. At the end of the day, that’s why this event exists, to have fun. These players understand that there is prize money involved, and personal pride/bragging rights that they’re playing for. However, I think the main reason so many players partake in the event is because of the once in a lifetime opportunity it provides. We are likely to never see an event like this enter the tennis calendar again, and I hope that the event continues long after all the current legends have left the game. I think there is a space for an exhibition event like this to take place amongst the top players, and I’m glad Team World will finally hold the trophy for the next 365 days.   

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