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    The Laver Cup and Its Growing Tradition

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    Roger Federer, who helped create the team event in 2017, said “the first year was definitely a highlight.” The cup is now in its seventh year.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.”Federer, seated left, and Rafael Nadal after their 2022 doubles match in the Laver Cup in London against Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock. It was Federer’s final tournament before his retirement.Tom Jenkins/Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Laver Cup: A Busy Taylor Fritz Embraces Team Competition

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      “It’s amazing I’m going to get to go play just a really fun event that I enjoy with all of my friends,” he said.After playing at home and hearing the roars as he reached his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open, Taylor Fritz is back on the road after a trans-Atlantic journey.The tennis world moves on very quickly.“I mean it’s one week off and then right after it again,” said Michael Russell, one of Fritz’s coaches. “There’s just not a lot of time off.”The risk of a letdown is real, but this is a road trip to Berlin that Fritz has been looking forward to. He fell hard for the Laver Cup when he made his debut in 2019, and the team event, dreamed up by Roger Federer and his agent, Tony Godsick, remains one of Fritz’s favorite events, even in an overstuffed Olympic season like 2024.“Being so mentally locked in for these two weeks, it would be really tough to go play an individual tournament that’s not going to have the same, like, just energy,” Fritz said at the U.S. Open earlier this month. “So it’s amazing I’m going to get to go play a really fun event that I enjoy with all of my friends. Because it’s pretty impossible for me to not be fired up playing a match when I have all these guys on the bench kind of going crazy for me.”The Laver Cup, running Friday through Sunday, is an annual men’s competition between six-player all-star teams, inspired by golf’s Ryder Cup. In that tournament, it is Europe against the United States. In the Laver Cup, it is Team Europe against Team World. It is not the most natural rivalry. Who instinctively roots for “the world minus Europe?”Fritz, center, and Tiafoe, left, and their fellow players on Team World celebrating a victory over Team Europe during the Laver Cup in September 2022 in London.Julian Finney/Getty Images for Laver CupWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More