The fourth edition of the Laver Cup kicks off on Friday, September 24. Named after Australian tennis legend Rod Laver, the mega tennis extravaganza will be played at the TD Garden in Boston between September 24 and September 26. The annual competition in men’s tennis, in which teams representing Europe and the rest of the world play each other, has attracted packed venues in all the previous editions in Geneva, Prague and Chicago.
In this year’s edition, Team World will be led by American legend John McEnroe, while the European team will be captained by Swedish great Bjorn Borg. Team Europe are undefeated so far at the event and will eye for another title, whereas McEnroe-led Team World will hope to win over their rivals this time. The tournament organised by Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer’s management firm, TEAM8 was cancelled last year owing to the pandemic.
On paper, the European team hold the advantage as they have at least six of the top-10 players in the world including the likes of US Open champion Daniil Medvedev and Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Alexander Zverev, among others. Notably, Team Europe would compete in absence of the Big-three – Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. However, Federer will be cheering on his European team-mates from the sidelines. The Swiss legend continues to recover from the knee injury that has kept him off the circuit for the majority of the season.
Meanwhile, the Team World side may not have top-10 players, but Americans Reilly Opelka and John Isner alongside Australian Nick Kyrgios will be part of the six-member team.
The premier tennis event will be held in a Ryder Cup-style format that pits players from both teams in singles and doubles matches which will be played in a best of three sets. The tournament will also have Ad scoring, meaning if the match heads one set all, the third and final set will be a first to 10 points tiebreak.
Here are the details:
Team Europe: Bjorn Borg (C), Thomas Enqvist (VC), Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Matteo Berrettini and Casper Ruud.
Reserve player: Feliciano Lopez
Team World: John McEnroe (C), Patrick McEnroe (VC), Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Diego Schwartzman, John Isner, Nick Kyrgios and Reilly Opelka.
Reserve player: Jack Sock
Laver Cup 2021: Full schedule
Day 1 – Friday, September 24: Afternoon session – two singles matches (starts at 10:00 PM IST).
Evening/night session: A single session followed by a doubles match (starts at 04:00 AM IST, Sept25).
Day 2 – Saturday, September 25: Afternoon session – two singles matches (starts at 10:00 PM IST).
Evening/night session: A single session followed by a doubles match (starts at 04:00 AM IST, Sept 26).
Day 3 – Sunday, September 26: Afternoon session – a doubles match followed by three singles matches (starts at 10:00 PM IST)
Note 1: If only one match is required on the final day (Day 3) to decide the 2021 Laver Cup result, a doubles exhibition will be played. Additionally, if the teams scores are not separated after 12 matches, a decider will be played.
Fans can enjoy live broadcast of the 2021 Laver Cup on Sony Sports Network’s Sony Six, Sony Six HD channels in India. The tennis extravaganza can also be live streamed on Sony’s digital platform SonyLIV.
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