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Laver Cup 2018: What we know so far and what to expect

By Keshav Gopalan

CHICAGO, IL - MARCH 19: Nick Kyrgios of Australia, Rod Laver, John McEnroe, and Roger Federer of Switzerland pose for photos during the Laver Cup 2018 Chicago Launch at Cloud Gate on March 19, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - MARCH 19: Nick Kyrgios of Australia, Rod Laver, John McEnroe, and Roger Federer of Switzerland pose for photos during the Laver Cup 2018 Chicago Launch at Cloud Gate on March 19, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images) /
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The 2017 edition of the Laver Cup was a massive success, with Team Europe edging out the win, thanks to Federer’s match against Kyrgios. This year’s edition of the Laver Cup has two of the sport’s behemoths, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic confirmed for Team Europe.

While Team Europe has only the pair confirmed so far, Team World has nearly filled its slot of players, with Nick Kyrgios being the first player to confirm his participation (along with Federer). Since then, Juan Martin Del Potro, Kevin Anderson, Diego Schwartzman and John Isner have confirmed their participation as well.

How does it work

The cup is played over 3 days. Matches won in day one carries 1 point, while day two and three carries 2 and 3 points, respectively. Each day has 3 singles matches and one doubles match.

John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg will continue to be the team captains for Team World and Team Europe, respectively.

What to expect?

Team World has a much, much stronger team this year, with 3 top 10 players and all players who are confirmed to play being in the Top 20. Whether or not this will translate well from paper to reality will remain to be seen, but it is likely for team world to perform better this year.

Seeing that Team World was fairly close to equalising the score on day 3, it is actually feasible for them to win the laver cup this year. Right?

The caveat here is that Team Europe has only 2 players confirmed. Rafael Nadal is very likely to skip the Laver Cup this year due to his commitment to his Davis Cup tie. Other players from Team Europe are yet to be confirmed: Tomas Berdych can be considered to be ruled out because of his back injury, while Alexander Zverev and Marin Cilic haven’t been confirmed yet. There’s also been no word of Andy Murray.

New players?

Among the upcoming players, Stefanos Tsitisipas is the most likely player to make it to the team, even as an alternate, while Shapovalov (depending on his US Hardcourt performance) can make it to Team World.

Conclusion

The Laver Cup this year has the potential to be even more exciting than the inaugural cup despite the lack of some of the crucial players from last year.

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