Laver Cup 2024: Top players to watch from Team World & Europe

Published at :September 18, 2024 at 6:40 AM

Modified at :September 18, 2024 at 6:40 AM

(Courtesy : Getty Images)

Team World and Team Europe bring out the big guns to their Laver Cup 2024 clash.

First held in 2017, it was Roger Federer who co-founded the Laver Cup with Tennis Australia. The Laver Cup pits the best of Europe against their counterparts from the Rest of the World.

The Laver Cup is named after Rod Laver – the Aussie tennis legend nicknamed “Rocket,” for his booming left-handed serve. Rod Laver powered his way to not one but two calendar Grand Slams in 1962 and 1969. The Australian great’s 1969 effort makes him the only man in the Open Era with a calendar slam to his name.

The top three players in each team earn guaranteed invites based on their ATP singles ranking on the Monday after Roland Garros. The remaining three are ‘captain’s picks’ with their names being revealed anytime before the US Open gets underway.

The Laver Cup 2024 will see five sessions being played over three days (Friday-Sunday). The seventh edition of the Laver Cup is to take place between September 20-22 at the Uber Arena in Berlin.

The singles and doubles will be played in a best-of-three-sets format with ad scoring. If the sets are split, then the match moves to the third set and will be settled by a 10-point tiebreaker.

A match win on Friday is worth one point. Any win on Saturday fetches two points, while on Sunday it is three points. The first time to reach 13 points out a total of 24 available points takes home the Laver Cup.

Should a deadlock arise at 12-12, a final doubles match is played as a regular set with ad scoring and a tiebreak to end the stalemate.

Team Europe will be led by Bjorn Borg and Team World’s fortunes will be in the hands of John McEnroe. Both tennis legends, Borg and McEnroe will step aside this year as team captains. They will make way for new captains in 2025 – Yannick Noah for Team Europe and Andre Agassi for Team World.

Team Europe won the first four installments of the Laver Cup, but Team World not to be outdone bounced back to claim the next two times the Laver Cup was held. Team Europe lead Team World 4-2.

Team World won the event in London in 2022, also Federer’s last Laver Cup by 13-8. Fast-forward to Vancouver in 2023, and Team Europe just about managed to avoid a whitewash. The rest of the world drubbed the Europeans, 13-2 – the most comprehensive win since Team World lost to Team Europe 14-1 in Boston in 2021.

Even accounting for the absence of Rafael Nadal who has withdrawn from the team event, there is still plenty of star power in the event’s line-up. The battle lines are drawn and the gloves will come off as Team World eyes a third consecutive title and Team Europe will do anything to prevent that from happening.

Here’s who to keep an eye on as both sides clash in the Laver Cup 2024, beginning later this week.

Players to watch out for in Laver Cup 2024

Carlos Alcaraz

The mercurial Carlos Alcaraz will be the spearhead for Team Europe when the event begins on Friday (September 21). The Spaniard will be making his Laver Cup debut. Alcaraz, currently World No. #3, has pocketed three titles this season – French Open, Wimbledon and the Indian Wells Masters.

Bagging the first two has given the Spaniard bragging rights to the Channel Slam. After claiming his second straight SW19 trophy, Alcaraz became only the sixth player to have won the men’s titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year.

Casper Ruud

Casper Ruud, the calm and collected Norwegian will be an ideal counter to the showman-like tendencies of Carlos Alcaraz. The World No. #9 will represent Team Europe for the fourth time and will look to preserve his 3-0 record in singles at the Laver Cup.

Ruud showcased his ability to climb back with the odds stacked against him. He came away with a straight-set victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Barcelona Open finals — an ATP 500 event.

Just a week before, Ruud had lost to the Greek in Monte Carlo in straight sets, winning a mere five games in the title clash. Ruud went on to win the Geneva Open against Tomas Machac in consecutive sets and make an appearance in the last four at Roland Garros.

Alexander Zverev

Hamburg-born Alexander Zverev will have the full backing of the German crowd when he strides onto the Uber Arena against Team World. The German is one of the most consistent players on tour.

Though among his 56 match wins this season, only one has come at a final, the World No. #2 has reached the last four or better at eight or more events. Zverev won the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome and made the title round at Roland Garros, but ultimately lost to Carlos Alcaraz in a gritty five-setter.

Zverev has a beyond useful 6-1 singles record at the Laver Cup and is a veteran of four appearances in the team event. He was instrumental in helping the Europeans to win the first four editions and is back after a two-year gap.

Taylor Fritz

Taylor Fritz, the 2024 US Open finalist will hope to lead the men in red to their third consecutive victory. The 26-year-old from Santa Fe will be making his fourth appearance at the event where he has a 3-1 record in singles. Fritz set the ball rolling on the second day of the 2023 Laver Cup with a straight-set win over Andrey Rublev. Team World had made a clean sweep of the day one matches to carve out a 4-0 lead over Europe.

Fritz was the mover of the week after making his first US Open final, making his way back to the top 10 for the first time since February this year. Currently at World No. #7, he is two spots away from his career-high of No. #5. He also won titles at Delray Beach and Eastbourne this year.

Ben Shelton

Big-serving Ben Shelton contributed heavily in his Laver Cup debut in Vancouver last year. Shelton helped Team World pick up six of the 13 points required for victory. It was he who along with Frances Tiafoe drove the final nail into Team Europe’s coffin with a straight win in the doubles fixture over Hubert Hurkacz and Andrey Rublev to seal the European side’s fate.

The southpaw from Georgia is 3-0 across his Laver Cup matches in Vancouver, 1-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles. The upcoming edition hoster in Berlin will be the second appearance for the 21-year-old.

Shelton rose to an all-time high of World No. #13 in August besides winning his second tour-level title in Houston to add to the Tokyo Open title from 2023.

Francisco Cerundolo

Francisco Cerundolo is back for a second appearance at the 2024 Laver Cup. The Argentine made a noteworthy debut for Team World in Vancouver last year. The 26-year-old did not let the first-day jitters get to him with a polished straight-set win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on debut.

His match-winning efforts set Team World on the path to victory with a 4-0 sweep of the first day’s fixtures. Cerundolo has a 1-0 singles record in the team event following last season’s successful debut.

Cerundolo has three ATP-level titles, the latest being the Croatia Open at Umag in 2024. En route to his title run, he defeated top 20-ranked players Andrey Rublev and Lorenzo Musetti. The World No. #31 also overwhelmed Alexander Zverev in Madrid for a third win over a top five player.

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