The fourth installment of the Laver Cup takes place this weekend in Boston, Mass. Team World hopes home-court advantage at the TD Garden will be the recipe it needs to defeat Team Europe for the first time following losses in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Following blowout losses in Prague and Chicago, the World was finally competitive in a 13-11 thriller two years ago in Geneva. The 2020 event was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Will Team World be able to take down the Europeans this time around? The rosters clearly don’t indicate that it’s a likely outcome. Every single player on the visiting side is in the Top 10; nobody on the home team is in the top 10. Perhaps a glimmer of hope for the World is that Team Europe doesn’t have Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, or Roger Federer.
Here are the 2021 Laver Cup rosters:
Team Europe
Daniil Medvedev
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Alexander Zverev
Andrey Rublev
Matteo Berrettini
Casper Ruud
Team World
Denis Shapovalov
Diego Schwartzman
Felix Auger-Aliassime
Reilly Opelka
John Isner
Nick Kyrgios
The unique and somewhat bizarre scoring system also provides the underdogs with more of an opportunity than they otherwise wouldn’t enjoy. Matches on the first day are one point, they are worth two points on the second day, and those on the final day count three. So no matter how bad Team World gets dominated on Friday–and really even Saturday, too–they will almost certainly have a realistic chance of victory heading into Sunday.
That being said, on paper it isn’t a fair fight. Medvedev just won the U.S. Open, Zverev reached the semifinals in New York after donning the gold medal at the Olympics, and Tsitsipas is ranked No. 3 in the world. The World’s only real hope is to completely take the rackets out of their opponents’ hands. But that is one thing their personnel is capable of doing. Isner, Opelka, and Kyrgios are three of the biggest servers on tour; Shapovalov and Auger-Aliassime aren’t too shabby in that department, either.
Whatever the case, even without the Big 3 this week’s festivities are sure to be wildly entertaining.
who ya got?
Four votes so far, all different. 🙂 I actually went with Team World this year. I don’t see Team Europe giving it their best without Roger and Rafa there to pump them up. JMac, Kyrgios, Shapo and Shortman should bring the enthusiasm for Team World and it’ll be a home crowd. We’ll see.
Team Europe for the win! Team Europe did put in the effort, fought hard to win their matches!
It’s quite incredible, that team Europe are all top ten players – from Meddy to Raud, no.2 to 5, no. 7 and no. 10! What they lack are good doubles players.
Im sorry but this is onhe of the few times I would watch golf over tennis…Ryder Cup beats ATP cup by some margin
I agree. Ryder Cup much more exciting. Laver Cup looks like a very poor imitation. Looks as if USA going to chalk up a rare victory. Rory Mac playing really badly too.
Agree with Big Al & M!…tho for me,since i donno how to ‘watch’ golf,i’d rather watch football than LC…
Honestly,i’ve never been a huge fan of LC(hehe..sorry!)..to me,the ‘excitement’ that they’re projected..over the top & seems fake..they way they celebrate the winning..it was like they won 10 slams!..while its just an exho!🤷♀️🙉🙊
Nah, should see how Rublev played, especially the doubles. He’s the MVP of this Laver Cup. His style was being called hyper-aggressive, and that’s so apt in describing how he played this Laver Cup. The match point he won when playing against Schwarzman in the singles was unbelievable; and he’s obviously the better player in the doubles partnering first Tsitsipas and then Zverev.
The players didn’t play as if it’s an exhibition, they fought hard to win, and many times team Europe was pushed to the limit but still won the matches in the end because they were clutch during the crucial moments.
I would say the team Europe members were top ten players for a reason; except for Tsitsipas and Zverev, the other four members were first timers in this Laver Cup, and they did put up a good show, all eager to win their matches.
Team World was unfortunate, that they pushed Team Europe to the limit in most of the matches, but failed to win them in the end!
I like the young Team Europe, they’re without the big three, and sooner or later we have to get used to days without the big three. The young Team was still able to deliver, and put up a good show, entertaining the crowd with competitive matches.
Fed made his appearance at the Laver Cup, watching the matches in the spectator seat (he was with clutches I think), Roddick was there beside him one day, and that was nice to see. Fed was firmly supportive of this event, and I do hope this event could continue for a long time to come, as it’s nice to see these players working as a team, advising each other what to do to win their matches (it’s impossible to see that in normal ATP events).
Without the big three, Zverev was the one who stood up as the leader, he spoke well and was humorous; Rublev the one with the most impressive play imo and a humble and fun guy; Meddy the freshly minted USO champion was impressive Vs Shapo, beating him 6-4, 6-0! Berrittenni fought hard to beat FAA, and Tsitsipas too vs Kyrgios. Ruud the first time top ten player did his part by winning the first match of the Laver Cup, beating the big serving Opelka in straight sets.
All in all, a good Laver Cup imo, even without the big names(big three).
Tough to watch apart from Rahm and Lowry . If McIlroy was a tennis player he’d be outside the top 100 because of his inconsistency.
The only time I went to a golf tournament was the Open at Portrush and McIlroy messed it up big time there as well .