The Laver Cup is an international indoor hard court men's team tennis tournament between Team Europe and Team World, the latter of which is composed of players from all other continents except Europe. Held annually since 2017,[1] the tournament is intended to be the Ryder Cup of the tennis world.[2] It normally takes place two weeks after the US Open, with the location rotating between different host cities; alternating yearly between European cities and cities in the rest of the world.[3] (Coincidentally, the 2021 Laver Cup and 2021 Ryder Cup were both held on the same late September weekend of 2021.)[4] In addition to the guaranteed participation fees which are based upon the players' ATP rankings, each member of the winning team gets $250,000 in prize money, but the tournament itself does not count towards the players' point totals in the ATP Tour for that year.[5][6] In May 2019, the Laver Cup became an officially sanctioned ATP Tour event.[7]
The competition pits six top European players against six of their counterparts from the rest of the world. Each team is led by a team captain, who is a former tennis legend. Three of the six players qualify based on their ATP singles ranking as of the Monday following the French Open in June. Three are “captain’s picks”, announced by the start of the U.S. Open, in August.[3]
There are 12 matches played over three days (nine singles and three doubles). Each match victory on day 1 is worth one point, on day 2 two points, and on day 3 three points. The first team to claim 13 points win the tournament. Each player takes the court once or twice for singles, with at least four of the six taking part in doubles. All matches are played as best-of-three, with a 10-point tiebreaker if play goes to a third set.[8]
Former rivalsBjörn Borg of Sweden (Team Europe) and John McEnroe of the United States (Team World) were announced to serve as captains for at least the first three editions.[11] After the 2019 edition, they announced that they will reprise their roles as team captains for a fourth straight edition.[12]
2017: Inaugural edition[]
The O2 Arena in Prague during the first Laver Cup.[13]
The fourth edition was held in Boston from 24 to 26 September 2021, at the TD Garden. It was originally scheduled for September 2020, but was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic to avoid overlapping with the 2020 French Open, which was also rescheduled.[14] Team Europe defeated Team World 14−1.