Tennis News

‘Patriotic’ Tsitsipas to represent Team Greece at United Cup 2025

Greek duo Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari will team once again when the United Cup kicks off the 2025 season on 27 December.

Paris Olympics gold medallist Zheng Qinwen and World No. 9 in the PIF ATP Rankings Casper Ruud will also return to lead China and Norway, respectively. 

Tsitsipas and Sakkari have helped Team Greece to the knockout stages in the previous two editions of the tournament, without tasting ultimate success. 

Tsitsipas is hoping the strong team culture he and Sakkari have built so far at the United Cup will hold Team Greece in good stead for 2025. 

“The team we have built with Maria over the last few years is definitely one that gives us a lot of opportunities to go big and create a lot of damage on the field,” he said. “Getting the opportunity to have a lot of good individuals within one team gives us a lot of motivation and a lot of reasons to go out there and fight for our best.”

A sense of patriotism keeps bringing the World No. 12 Tsitsipas back to the United Cup.  

“Representing Team Greece in a team competition like that at the beginning of the year is something that allows me to be really patriotic and start the year very strong,” he said. “Knowing that we come from a country rich in history and good traditions and values when it comes to sports is an extra reason to go out there and represent tennis, try and do as good as we can to uplift tennis and bring its highest value in our country.”  

Tournament Director Stephen Farrow believes the combination of Tsitsipas and Sakkari perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere of the international mixed-teams event.  

“Tsitsipas and Sakkari qualified Greece at the first two editions of the United Cup. They are both fan favourites and are looking forward to starting their year with us in 2025,” he said.  

“The Greek fans in both Perth and Sydney have supported the United Cup with great passion. They bring an unrivaled energy in support of their country’s biggest sporting stars, which is the essence of the United Cup.”

Meanwhile, World No. 7 Zheng led Team China to a United Cup quarter-final berth earlier this year and has ensured China’s qualification once again.  

“I’m delighted to be able to qualify China again for the United Cup,” said Zheng, the first Chinese player in history to win an Olympic tennis medal in singles. “The United Cup presents a unique opportunity to play for our country in a mixed team environment, similar to the Olympics, and we couldn’t be more excited to share this experience together.” 

Farrow is grateful a player of Zheng’s quality has recommitted to compete at the United Cup. 

“Zheng has had an incredible 2024. She reached the final of the Australian Open in January, won gold in Paris and has maintained her Top 10 ranking throughout the year,” said Farrow of the player who also recently reached the US Open quarter-finals. “She’s a great player and a big personality and it’s fantastic to welcome her back to the United Cup.” 

Ruud is also set to feature at the tournament as he headlines Norway’s third United Cup campaign. The 25-year-old went undefeated in his singles matches at the last United Cup and took the Norwegians to the quarter-finals.  

“Casper Ruud’s consistent results on the Tour has again allowed Norway to secure their position at the United Cup for another year. Ruud’s early commitment recognises the value in participating in global team competitions,” Farrow said.

The 2025 United Cup starts on 27 December and features 18 countries battling it out across both Sydney and Perth. The champions will be crowned in the final on 5 January.

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Iconic Brandenburg Gate sets the scene for Laver Cup official photo

ATP Tour stars from the past and present stood before an iconic landmark on Wednesday evening in Berlin for the official pre-event photograph of the 2024 Laver Cup.

Captains and players partaking in this year’s edition of the teams event headed to the German capital’s Brandenburg Gate for a spectacular sunset shot. Former No. 1s in the PIF ATP Rankings Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe are this year captaining Team Europe and Team World, respectively, for the seventh and final time, and they will have some of the current day’s finest talent to choose from across 20-22 September at Uber Arena.

Borg’s Team Europe lineup includes home favourite Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud, Grigor Dimitrov, and Stefanos Tsitsipas, with Flavio Cobolli and Jan-Lennard Struff in Berlin as alternates. The Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz is looking forward to making his bow in an event that pits six of the best European stars against six players from the rest of the world.

“I think it’s a unique event,” Alcaraz told media after the photoshoot. “I’m supporting my opponents from the rest of the year, so it’s going to be a little bit weird for me but I think it’s going to be fun. The format is unique as well, so I’m super excited to start the event and see how it’s going to be on Friday and at the weekend. Really happy to be here at the Laver Cup.”

Always a pleasure to have @rogerfederer in town 🤩@LaverCup | #LaverCup pic.twitter.com/WwqPtunJCM

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 18, 2024

The World No. 7 Taylor Fritz is the highest-ranked star on Team World. The American will hope to back up his run to his maiden Grand Slam final at the US Open with a strong showing in Berlin.

“I’m super excited I’m here,” said Fritz. “I’ve heard really good things about Berlin and so far I’m really enjoying it. It’s one of those places, that if Laver Cup wasn’t here, I might never have gotten the chance to come.”

For McEnroe, the fact that this will be his last as captain of Team World only serves as extra motivation. The American hopes to steer his roster, which includes Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Ben Shelton, Alejandro Tabilo, Francisco Cerundolo and Thanasi Kokkinakis, to a third consecutive Laver Cup triumph.

“My idol as a kid was Rod Laver, and Roger Federer was the most beautiful player, one of the best people I’ve ever met. He came up with this idea, and to be able to do this with my best rival and great friend Bjorn Borg [is great],” McEnroe told ATPTour.com. “It’s pretty tough and when you lose, it sucks, but it’s still a great experience to be part of this. Hopefully, since we finally won the past two, we can go out with a bang.”

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Wu's comeback & Hangzhou homecoming

Wu Yibing was around 14 years old when he noticed a strange swelling on his left foot. The on-and-off pain was the result of a slight fracture that did not require immediate surgery, but doctors advised that it would likely need treatment in the future.

After nearly a decade of waiting, Wu opted for surgery late last year. It was a tough moment for the Chinese star who was in the form of his life. A fierce competitor with a fierce forehand, Wu triumphed at the Dallas Open to become China’s lone ATP Tour titlist in February 2023. He later hit a career-high No. 54 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

But shortly after the US Open, Wu was forced to put an early end to his dream year.

“I felt like it bothered me a lot last year after the grass season. Maybe the surface change and also the shoes, I didn’t feel really used to,” Wu told ATPTour.com at the Hangzhou Open, where he is competing in front of his home fans this week. “So I started to feel it more after grass and that’s why I decided to do the surgery after the US Open.”

Since undergoing surgery, Wu has competed in just one ATP Tour event (Houston this year). Then he missed an additional four-and-a-half months. Wu did not compete from March 2019 until January 2022 due to several injuries, including issues with his elbow, which required surgery, his lower back, shoulder and wrist.

“I think the tougher parts of life always teach you something. I think we can all take these parts as motivation,” Wu said. “Mentally I will be even tougher because of the things I’ve [been] through. It’s not easy for everybody.”

Wu’s latest comeback featured a positive start. He immediately won his fifth ATP Challenger Tour title in August in Jinan, China. It was just his second outing of the year.

“That was very special. I feel like the work I put in before starting to play again was all worth it,” Wu said. “A lot of practice, a lot of effort outside the tournaments. A lot of work in the gym. Hopefully everything can come together, [I can] be healthy and play good tennis again.”

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/08/24/12/51/yibing-jinanch-2024.jpg?w=100%25&hash=86502B8304761A06BCF6BC7CCA65E83C” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Wu Yibing triumphs at the 2024 Jinan Open.” />
^{Wu Yibing triumphs at the ATP Challenger Tour 50 event in Jinan. Credit: Jinan Open}
For many Chinese fans, this year’s Asian hard-court swing marks the first time they can watch Wu in person since his rapid rise in 2023.

Competing this week in his birth city Hangzhou, Wu is making his first ATP Tour appearance on Chinese soil since 2018. It is a grand homecoming for the World No. 566.

“I actually drove by the West Lake a few days ago and the facility was right there. It brings me back. A lot of good memories,” Wu said. “As a young kid, four or five years old, playing with regular racquets, which were cleaning the floor!”

Nine months into the season, the wild card Wu will aim for his first tour-level win of the year when he faces #NextGenATP Coleman Wong in the first round.

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Alcaraz, Cobolli show off football skills to Bundesliga coaches in Berlin

Carlos Alcaraz and Flavio Cobolli may be in Berlin this week primarily to play tennis, but that didn’t stop the ATP Tour stars from testing their football skills with some local experts on Wednesday afternoon.

Ahead of the 2024 Laver Cup in the German capital, Team Europe’s Alcaraz and Cobolli challenged members of Bundesliga team FC Union Berlin to a game of football and tennis at Uber Arena. Both tennis stars are big football fans: Alcaraz supports Spanish giant Real Madrid, while Italy’s Cobolli is a huge fan of AS Roma.

🎾 x ⚽️@carlosalcaraz and @cobollifla challenged members of @fcunion to a friendly competition.@LaverCup | #LaverCup | 📸: Getty Images pic.twitter.com/VbKTrXea5O

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 18, 2024

Alcaraz and Cobolli also visited Berlin’s renowned East Side Gallery in its historic Friedrichshain district, where they swapped football jerseys and Team Europe jackets with their footballing counterparts. The representatives from FC Union Berlin included Head Coach Bo Svensson and co-trainers Babak Keyhanfar and Tijan Njie.

The No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz is the only Laver Cup debutant on Team Europe’s six-man roster at this year’s edition of the teams’ event. Cobolli is in Berlin as an alternate for captain Bjorn Borg’s team, which will take on the Team World roster captained by John McEnroe.

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20 years since Beijing’s bow! Champions in the Chinese capital

For the past 20 years, Beijing has been home to the China Open, an outdoor hard-court tournament that has attracted some of the ATP Tour’s biggest names.

The ATP 500, which has been a combined event since its inception in 2004 after the WTA Tour moved its WTA 1000 from Shanghai, has been won by a host of notable champions, including Marat Safin, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, and most recently, Jannik Sinner.

Ahead of the 20th anniversary edition of the event, ATPTour.com looks back on some of the men’s singles champions in Beijing.

2004: Safin, Beijing’s First Champion
There can hardly have been a more emphatic first champion in Beijing than Safin. The former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings competed as the fifth seed in the inaugural edition of the ATP 500 and he did not drop a set all week.

Safin’s dominance in the Chinese capital kick-started a red-hot run on the hard courts. He won ATP Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Paris later that year, before lifting his second Grand Slam title at the 2005 Australian Open.

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/09/20/13/15/safin-beijing-2004-trophy.jpg” style=”width: 100%;” alt=”Marat Safin” />

_{^{Marat Safin lifts the trophy at the inaugural China Open in 2004. Goh Chai Hin/AFP via Getty Images}}

2005 & 2017: Nadal Bookends in Beijing
Nadal won the Beijing title on his both his event debut in 2005 and his most recent appearance there in 2017. He defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero and Guillermo Coria en route to the 2005 crown, a title run that in came in the midst of his stunning breakout season during which he won 11 tour-level titles overall.

Twelve years later, in 2017, the Spaniard triumphed in Beijing once again, despite facing two match points in his first-round match against former World No. 10 Lucas Pouille. Nadal defeated three opponents from the Top 20 of the PIF ATP Rankings — John Isner, Grigor Dimitrov and Nick Kyrgios — to cap his run in the Chinese capital.

“It is an important title for me,” said Nadal after his 2017 triumph. “The last year that I had the trophy with me was in 2005. In 2005 I never would have believed that I will keep playing tennis in 2017… I’m very happy.”

<img src=”/-/media/images/articles/nadal-beijing-2024-20-years-on.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Rafael Nadal” />

_{^{Rafael Nadal wins the 2017 Beijing title. Photo Credit: Etienne Oliveau/Getty Images}}

2008: Roddick, Beijing’s Only American Winner
In 2008, Andy Roddick achieved history by becoming the first and only American to raise a title at the China Open.

The 2003 US Open champion lifted his fifth and final ATP 500 title in Beijing, where he defeated his fellow former World No. 1 Ferrero in the quarter-finals and Dudi Sela in the championship match.

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/09/20/13/08/roddick-beijing-2008-backhand.jpg” style=”width: 100%;” alt=”Andy Roddick” />

_{^{Andy Roddick in action during the 2008 Beijing championship match. Photo Credit: Andrew Wong/Getty Images}}

2009-10, 2012-15: The Djokovic Dynasty in Beijing
Novak Djokovic has become synonymous with Beijing’s tournament. The Serbian holds a 29-0 record at the ATP 500.

In 2009, the Serbian defeated Marin Cilic in straight sets to win his first China Open title. The victory over the Croatian opened the door to years of Djokovic dominance in the Chinese capital, including titles in five of the next six years (2009-10, 2012-15). The former World No. 1 has won the China Open six times, a tournament record, without dropping a single set in the final on any occasion.

“This is right at the top, one of the best achievements I’ve had in my career,” said Djokovic prior to his 2015 championship-match clash with Nadal. “Every time I keep coming back, I have these positive, great memories from the success, the great performances I had on the centre court, support, just overall feel is very positive. I try to use that in my favour.”

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/09/20/13/12/djokovic-beijing-2015-celebration.jpg” style=”width: 100%;” alt=”Novak Djokovic” />

_{^{Novak Djokovic defeats Rafael Nadal in the 2015 China Open final. Photo Credit: Chris Hyde/Getty Images}}

2016: In the Midst of Murray Magic
Andy Murray arrived at Beijing in 2016 on the backdrop of a remarkable year. The Scot was in the midst of an incredible season that included becoming the first player to win back-to-back Olympic Gold medals, while also winning the Wimbledon championships and reaching two other major finals (Australian Open, French Open).

In the 2016 China Open, Murray capped off a dominant year, by defeating two former Top 10 players to win his first title at the China Open. Murray won 26 straight matches to finish the year as the ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF.

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/09/18/20/25/murray-beijing-2024-20-years-on.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Andy Murray” />
^{Andy Murray won his sole Beijing title in 2016. Photo Credit: Emmanuel Wong/Getty Images}

2023: Sinner flourishes in Beijing
One of the key moments of Jannik Sinner’s breakthrough 2023 season was in Beijing, where he defeated two Top 3 players, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev, to lift the title. Medvedev had won all six of their previous Lexus ATP Head2Head matchups.

Sinner’s impressive form carried over to 2024, when he won his maiden major at the Australian Open before becoming the first Italian No. 1 in PIF ATP Rankings history in June.

With these historic moments in mind, the stage is set for this year’s edition of the China Open, which will be played from 26 September-2 October.

Will a Chinese man break through to triumph on home soil? Zhang Zhizhen, who recently won the mixed doubles silver medal in the Paris Olympics, is the country’s leading hope. Other home favourites to watch include #NextGenATP Shang Juncheng and Buyunchaokete.

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Gauff splits with coach Gilbert

Coco Gauff ends her partnership with coach Brad Gilbert just a fortnight after what she described as a “disappointing” US Open title defence.

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Remembering Robert Lansdorp: Austin, Davenport, Teacher & Teltscher pay tribute

Robert Lansdorp, the pioneering coach based in California who mentored four World No. 1s and impacted countless players at all levels throughout his career, has passed away aged 85.

Lansdorp, who was born in Indonesia and then moved with his family to the Netherlands before they relocated to the United States, played college tennis at Pepperdine University. The All-American will not be remembered for his competitive achievements, though. He became a legend as a coach, inspiring several generations of stars to reach their potential.

Lansdorp mentored both ATP and WTA greats from an early age, developing them into the international icons they became. Notable legends he coached include Tracy Austin, Pete Sampras, Lindsay Davenport and Maria Sharapova.

Lansdorp began working with eventual World No. 1 Austin at the Jack Kramer Club in California when she was seven. In 1979, aged 16, she won the US Open.

“As a coach, it didn’t matter whether he was coaching a No. 1 in the world or someone that was hoping to make the high school team, he gave 100 per cent,” Austin told ATPTour.com. “He just loved the challenge of trying to make that person on the other side of the court the best tennis player that they could be. He enjoyed that. He actually enjoyed that challenge of making that person a better tennis player with the half an hour or the hour that he had.

“His DNA was to to push you, but he also pushed himself. And I think when we realised that, then you you were on board. You were on board [and knew] that we were on this journey together… He asked for perfection, but you were more than willing to try to get there.”

Another World No. 1, Davenport, added: “Robert was so unique. He was a personality like no one I’ve ever met or been around, and I was really fortunate to have him come into my life when I was around nine years old.

“He changed my life in terms of, I would never have gone down the path or achieved anything I was able to achieve without having him in my life. It’s hard to put in words, because all of us that worked with him, I’ve talked to so many people in the last day and a half, and we have this bond even though we don’t necessarily speak all the time, just because of our history [with Robert]. He was so important to so many people over such a long period of time.”

The former No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Eliot Teltscher, also started with Lansdorp well before he was a teen. Now 65, he has remained close with his mentor ever since.

“I stopped playing tennis almost 40 years ago, but I stayed friends with Robert until the very end. So his impact for me didn’t end when I stopped playing tennis. His impact was, for me, for my life. The best way I could put it is he never stopped coaching me,” Teltscher said. “We would talk and discuss things and talk about things when I wasn’t playing tennis, when I was in my 40s and 50s and 60s. It never ended. He was, I think for me, a little more of a mentor than a coach.

“It didn’t stop when tennis stopped, it continued. A lot of times, you teach somebody when they’re done playing, that’s it, that’s the end of it. I’m going to speak for myself and not for others, but I think a lot feel the same way. My relationship with Robert never ended. It went on forever. I called him up every few months to just say, ‘Hey, what’s going on? What’s this? What’s that?’ It never, never stopped. So I’ll miss that.”

Author Malcolm Gladwell popularised the 10,000-hour rule, which presents the idea that it takes practising a skill for 10,000 hours to master it. According to Teltscher, Lansdorp embodied that long before it was widely discussed like it is today.

“The most common thing people had was all his students tried really, really hard, and it was because of the respect they had for Robert as a person. It was that respect that you wanted him to be proud of you, so you tried really hard,” Teltscher said. “Before the guy came out with it, Robert was basically preaching it. If you want to get good, you’ve got to hit a million balls. And he had a very large basket of balls, much larger than, actually, anybody I’ve ever seen. And so you didn’t get too many breaks, and you got a tonne of balls until it became where you could do it without thinking. You could just do it.”

Austin recalled drills in which Lansdorp would hang a broom handle from the net with a hook and there would be a tennis can that would sit nicely on the top. It was a target that required a lot of accuracy. The coach would then feed ball after ball to see how often his player could hit it.

“You’d do it over and over again, and he’d place it for the cross court, and place it for the down the line, and then you’d play a game and see how many out of 10 you could get,” Austin said. “There was always some method to his madness, whether it was trying to hit you slices and top spins, or trying to make you hit on the rise, to challenge your timing, or trying to make you mentally tough.

“You’d play a game, and you’d be up in the game, and it’s 15-7 and he’d go, ‘Nope, it’s 15-7 for me’. You’d go, ‘No Robert, it’s 15-7 for me’, and he’d kind of chuckle. You knew he was doing this for a reason, just to [make you] dig in a little bit stronger and not not give in, try to make you tougher.”

According to Davenport, Lansdorp’s drills remained the same over the decades. She did the same things Austin did and her son Jagger Leach, the junior World No. 15 who is playing his first professional tournament this week, had to go through the same drills when he visited with Lansdorp in 2017.

“You had to become great at them, and you had to do them all the time,” Davenport said. “If you didn’t do it well one day, guess what? You were going to keep doing it until you figured it out.”

Brian Teacher, the 1980 Australian Open champion, began taking lessons with Lansdorp when he was a freshman at UCLA. 

“He helped me quite a bit with hitting over my backhand,” Teacher said. “We would work out once a week. I always enjoyed my lessons with him. He pushed. He pushed all his kids very hard and harder.

“He he would kind of make you want to vomit in the back of the court because he’d work you so hard, but you got better. No questions about that. He really specialised in getting you to hit the ball deep. To hit deep and penetrating balls, he liked you to hit clean through the ball. I think he pushed all his students hard. It was his specialty.

“Everybody loves Robert and they loved for him to work them out. He helped my game a tonne and started me on a good progression as a freshman to move to the top of the ranks in college. I always considered Robert a good buddy as well as a great coach. I had true love for his passion and his character and humanity. He will truly be missed.”

Earlier this year, several of Lansdorp’s former players and others in the community gathered at the Jack Kramer Club to honour the 85-year-old. It is clear his legacy will carry on.

“He was a character,” Davenport said. “He won’t be forgotten, that’s for sure.”

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'I couldn't feel my arms and legs' – Murray on pro-am nerves

Andy Murray endured a bout of nerves when he played in the BMW PGA Championship pro-am with fellow Scot Bob MacIntyre on Wednesday.

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Cilic, Marozsan record wins on Day 1 in Hangzhou

Marin Cilic secured his first win on the ATP Tour since January 2023 on Wednesday, finishing with a flourish to complete a 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 comeback over Zachary Svajda in the first round of the inaugural Hangzhou Open.

The former No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings has been hampered by injuries over the course of the past two seasons, eventually undergoing a second knee surgery in May this year. After a spell on the sidelines, Cilic returned to action on the ATP Challenger Tour last month and has worked his way back to record an impressive triumph over Svajda.

“It means a lot,” Cilic said of his return to winning ways. “It means a lot for me, for my team who have been with me through this extremely long, boring and difficult period. Two surgeries, lots of recovery, rehab and training. [I’m] just extremely happy that I am healthy, enjoying myself on the court, and physically back to 100 per cent.”

A winning return 🔙 for @cilic_marin 🙌@HangzhouOpen | #HangzhouOpen pic.twitter.com/CtN17wrNzj

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 18, 2024

The 35-year-old, who clinched his maiden Grand Slam at the 2014 US Open, won 92 per cent of first-serve points in the deciding set according to Infosys ATP Stats to cruise to victory and book his spot in round two, where he will face Maximilian Marterer or Yoshihito Nishioka for a place in the quarter-finals.

Earlier in the day, seventh seed Fabian Marozsan secured an emphatic 6-0, 6-2 win over Luca Nardi to advance in one hour, 10 minutes. The Hungarian has established himself as a persistent threat on hard courts this season and is off to a strong start in Hangzhou with a statement win, overpowering Nardi with a comfortable triumph.

The Italian Nardi produced a stellar run to defeat Novak Djokovic en route to the fourth round of the ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells in March but has since been unable to record a win over a Top 50 opponent.

Just like Cilic, veteran Mikhail Kukushkin also rolled back the years with a dominant display to defeat fifth seed Luciano Darderi 6-3, 6-4. The 36-year-old, who currently sits at No. 112 in the PIF ATP Rankings, used his craft and guile to record his first tour-level win since October 2023.

The former World No. 39 will now attempt to notch his 175th tour-level win when he faces either Alexander Shevchenko or Marco Trungelliti in the second round. 

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‘No, you’re the king!’ Federer greets Captains Borg, McEnroe ahead of Laver Cup

A host of tennis greats is gathering in Berlin.

Roger Federer on Tuesday headed to the city’s Uber Arena to help welcome his fellow former No. 1s in the PIF ATP Rankings and Laver Cup captains Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe to the German capital.

“The king!” exclaimed Team Europe captain Borg upon seeing Swiss great Federer, who is a co-founder of the Laver Cup and featured in a victorious Team Europe lineup at three editions of the teams’ event.

“No, you are the king!” replied Federer to Swedish legend Borg, who will captain Team Europe for the seventh and final time in Berlin.

Roger Federer arrives at the Uber Arena ahead of Laver Cup Berlin 2024. pic.twitter.com/f5TAfPlYDl

— Laver Cup (@LaverCup) September 17, 2024

Also set for his final outing as a captain this year is McEnroe, who had just finished hitting with his brother and Team World Vice-captain Patrick McEnroe on the iconic black Laver Cup court when Federer appeared.

“Good surprise, they said nobody was hitting!” said Federer to the McEnroe brothers.

First held in 2017, the Laver Cup pits a lineup of six European ATP Tour stars against six counterparts from the rest of the world. Team Europe has won four of the past six editions of the event and boasts a strong lineup this year that includes World No. 2 and home favourite Alexander Zverev and No. 3-ranked debutant Carlos Alcaraz.

Team World, which triumphed in the past two editions of the Laver Cup in London and Vancouver, respectively, will this year be spearheaded by a trio of Americans in Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton.

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