World’s best tennis players descend on Bay Area for Laver Cup
A dozen of the greatest players in all of tennis are heading to the Bay Area for the Laver Cup.
The Laver what?
OK, we understand that the general sports fan still might not be all that familiar with this three-day tennis tournament, which was founded by eight-time Wimbledon champ Roger Federer and other hardcourt heavyweights back in 2017 in honor of Australian tennis legend Rod Laver.
To tennis aficionados, however, the Laver Cup has quickly become one of the sport’s premier annual events, drawing fans from multiple countries to cheer on their favorite players each year.
And, now, the Laver Cup is set to make its West Coast debut as superstar Carlos Alcaraz, top-ranked American man Taylor Fritz and other marquee players battle it for global supremacy Friday through Sunday at Chase Center in San Francisco.
“We’ve got an incredible lineup of players,” Laver Cup CEO Steve Zacks said during a media day event at Chase Center on Monday. “Carlos Alcaraz will be here in his first tournament since he won the U.S. Open. He’s now a six-time grand slam champion — No. 1 in the world.”
The 22-year-old Spaniard will be leading Team Europe in a battle with Team World (aka, everyplace that is not Europe) in this eighth edition of the Laver Cup.
Joining Alcaraz is the world No. 3 Alexander Zverev (Germany) – who has been dominant at past Laver Cups.
“Alex will be playing his sixth Laver Cup, which is a record,” Zacks said. “He’s also undefeated – as a member of Team Europe.”
Filling out the six-member Team Europe are No. 11 Holger Rune (Denmark), No. 12 Casper Rudd (Norway), No. 17 Jakub Mensik (Czech Republic) and No. 25 Flavio Cobolli (Italy).
Team Europe’s captain is Yannick Noah, a Frenchman who won the French Open in 1983, and its vice captain is Tim Henman, who was the top-rated British player for several years in the ‘90s and early 2000s.
Team World is led by the top-ranked American (and No. 5 overall on the ATP men’s rankings) Fritz, who has one Masters 1000 title on the books – the 2022 Indian Wells Open – and was a finalist at the 2024 US Open.
Fritz will be battling for 2025 Laver Cup honors alongside No. 8 Alex de Minaur (Australia), No. 21 Francisco Cerundolo (Argentina), No. 32 Alex Michelsen (U.S.), No. 42 João Fonseca (Brazil) and No. 60 Reilly Opelka (U.S.).
The Team World roster was originally supposed to look much different, but then a number of the top-ranked Americans dropped out due to injury – the most recent of which was Frances Tiafoe, whose spot was then filled by de Minaur.
“We will miss Frances’ energy and game in San Francisco,” said Team World Captain Andre Agassi, a winner of eight major during his career. “However, we couldn’t be more thrilled to add one of the best and most in-form players in the world to our team. I’ve admired the way Alex plays and competes from afar and now look forward to having a front row seat to watching him perform.”
Agassi is joined in the coaching ranks by Vice Captain Pat Rafter, who won back-to-back U.S. Open singles titles in the late ‘90s.
The goal for both squads, over the course of three days, is to be the first one to reach 13 points – and thus claim the Laver Cup trophy.
The scoring works like this: Each match won on Day 1 counts for one point, then two points on Day 2 and, finally, three points on the last day.
Thus far, Team Europe – with its star-studded lineups – has done a much better job at reaching that magic 13 number and holds a decisive 5-2 edge in the all-time Laver Cup series.
Team Europe once again won the trophy last year triumphing over the World, by a score of 13 to 11 in Berlin.
This is the third time that the Laver Cup has been held in the United States, following installments in Chicago in 2018 and Boston in 2021.
Ticket sales have been quite strong for the three days — according to Brandon Schneider, COO of the Golden State Warriors – yet some ducats still remain. Visit lavercup.com for details.