Tennis - Laver Cup: Everything you need to know about the competition
by Tyler Doty | by Tyler Doty
Introducing the 2024 Laver Cup
Created by Roger Federer, the Laver Cup has been held every year since 2007. The Laver Cup 2024 marks the 7th edition of this unique tournament, which pits a men's team from Europe against a men's team from the rest of the world.
This year, the competition takes place from September 20 to 22 at the Uber Arena in Berlin, Germany, and is played on indoor hard courts. Under the direction of tennis legends Björn Borg and John McEnroe, captains of Team Europe and Team World respectively for the last time, the show should be on. In 2025, they will pass the torch to Yannick Noah and Andre Agassi.
For this 2024 edition, Team World is defending its title after triumphing last year and looking to win the Laver Cup for the third year running, having won the two previous editions.
Although the Laver Cup does not count towards the official ATP rankings, it nevertheless brings together some of the best players on the professional circuit in an innovative format, making it an interesting event to follow for tennis predictions.
Tournament details
- Location: Berlin (Germany)
- Dates: September 20 to September 22, 2024
- Surface: Hard (indoor)
- Prize Money: $2,250,000
- Previous Winner: Team World
- Number of Titles Won: Europe: 4 / World: 2
How does the Laver Cup work?
As already mentioned, the Laver Cup has nothing in common with competitions such as a Grand Slam tournament or a classic ATP event.
The competition takes place over three days, with singles and doubles matches. Matches on the first day earn 1 point, those on the second day 2 points, and those on the third day 3 points.
Each match is played in two sets, with the possibility of a 10-point super tie-break in the event of a tie. The team that reaches 13 points first wins the tournament. If the score is 12-12 after the 12 matches, a doubles tie-breaker is played in one set.
Each player must play one singles match during the first two days, and no player may play more than two singles matches over the three days. In doubles matches, a pair can only be formed once, with the exception of the tie-break match at 12-12.
The 2024 Laver Cup participants and our favorite
The composition of Team Europe for this 2024 edition of the Laver Cup is impressive! With the exception of Stefanos Tsitsipas (12th), all the European players are from the ATP top 10. A solid line-up, which makes Team Europe our favorite this year. Dimitrov replaces Nadal, which is good news for the team given the Spanish legend's current form.
The rest of the world team is not to be taken lightly either, but remains one level below Team Europe. In particular, we note the presence of Taylor Fritz, recent finalist at the US Open 2024 and the only member of the team's top 10, as well as Frances Tiafoe (15th) and Ben Shelton (17th), who are both capable of distinguishing themselves on hard court.
Whatever the case, SportyTrader's editorial team is confident that Team Europe will return to winning ways after missing out on two consecutive editions. In any case, Team Europe is selling us a dream! Our prediction for the winner of the 2024 Laver Cup: victory for Team Europe.
All images in this article are from IMAGO.
