The Laver Cup and Its Growing Tradition

Roger Federer was in a bit of a panic. He knew how high the stakes were as he took the court at Prague’s O2 Arena in September 2017 for a Sunday afternoon match against Nick Kyrgios.

Not only was Federer a founder of the Laver Cup team competition that made its much-ballyhooed debut that year, but he and Tony Godsick, his longtime manager, had worked to design rules that would likely result in a down-to-the wire finish between the team from Europe and the one representing the rest of the world. Federer got what he wanted, but now he had to deliver.

“I knew that if I lost against Kyrgios — and I was down match point — it would come down to a one-set super tiebreaker in doubles for the whole Laver Cup, and it would have been Rafa [Nadal] and me against Kyrgios and [Jack] Sock,” Federer said by phone last week. “It would have been insane. I was so happy that by beating Kyrgios I didn’t have to go through that.”

Federer spoke last week as he prepared to leave for Berlin and this year’s Laver Cup. Earlier in the day he played tennis for half an hour, a luxury these days, but one he still described as “so much fun.” As he reminisced about his favorite Laver Cup memories his voice rose with enthusiasm.

“That first year was definitely a highlight,” said Federer, who won 20 major singles titles, including eight at Wimbledon and five at the U.S. Open. “And, of course, walking out to play doubles with Rafa, there was such high expectation that had never happened before. That was magical.”