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    Vancouver Fought to Host the Laver Cup — and Won

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    Overshadowed by Toronto and Montreal in the world of tennis, the city fought aggressively to bring the tournament to its 17,000-seat arena.To understand how Vancouver — which, as Canada’s third-largest city, has long stood in the tennis shadow of Toronto and Montreal — won the right to host the 2023 Laver Cup, start with the big picture. From 2,500 feet.In April 2019, the morning after Laver Cup officials flew in from New York, the first thing their Vancouver hosts did was pile them into a seaplane.Climbing out of Vancouver Harbour, the pilot circled above skyscrapers and sports arenas before heading north over cedar trees and glacial lakes toward Black Tusk, the region’s volcanic peak. Whistler Mountain beckoned in the distance. After an hour of sightseeing, the plane splashed back down across from the 2010 Olympic Cauldron.It was a powerful reminder of the city’s hosting legacy.Steve Zacks, the chief executive of the Laver Cup, remembers putting a lot of trust in the pilot. “Once you’re up there, it’s just a beautiful perspective of the city and all the surroundings,” he said in an interview.But it was Vancouver’s experience — and its burgeoning grass-roots tennis scene — that convinced him and his team to take the Laver Cup to a city that hadn’t had a big-time tennis event in a half-century.“The appeal of Vancouver is that it’s a modern city, a business center, and plus, they had the infrastructure and experience to host a major sporting event,” he said.The Olympic Cauldron from the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. For the Laver Cup, the Cauldron will be lit up in red (for Team World) and blue (for Team Europe).Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesSince the 2010 Winter Games, Vancouver has been the site of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals, several Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup qualifying matches for Canada’s national tennis squads, Rugby Sevens, and an L.P.G.A. golf tournament. And, in 2026, Vancouver will be a host city for the FIFA Men’s World Cup.In 2025, Vancouver and Whistler will also host the Invictus Games, an international adaptive sports competition for wounded service members.As a professional hockey town, Vancouver’s elite tennis résumé has been thin, with a well-regarded, but second-tier, men’s professional tournament in recent years.The last time Vancouver was a stop on the men’s international circuit was in 1973, and the tournament was sponsored by a cigarette company. Rod Laver himself won the Vancouver tournament in 1970, its first year.Laver, 85, will be a guest at the team event, which Roger Federer cocreated in his honor. For three days starting Friday, the Laver Cup will lay out the signature black court inside Rogers Arena to showcase six of the top players from Europe against six from the rest of the world. Federer, who retired last year, will toss the coin in the final doubles match on Sunday.“There’s no other way to invite the greats of tennis to Vancouver unless they’re playing for their national team,” said Michelle Collens, the senior manager of Sport Hosting Vancouver, and the bid orchestrator. “This is our opportunity to put us on the map.”While Canada has developed recent stars like Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Leylah Fernandez and Bianca Andreescu, they have emerged from Montreal and Toronto. Those cities host premier tournaments before the United States Open every summer.Jonathan Wornell, the executive director of British Columbia’s regional federation, Tennis BC, sees the Laver Cup jump-starting generational change. “I think it will cause that next surge in the sport,” he said.In fact, it has already begun. Every July, Vancouver has one of the largest amateur tennis tournaments in North America. This year, that event — the Stanley Park Open — drew 1,700 participants of all ages, 200 more than in 2022.Since 2019, players in schools and development programs have doubled, to 24,611 in 2022 from 12,260 participants in 2019, according to Tennis BC.Juniors are clamoring for spots, and not just in tournaments. The Laver Cup held tryouts for ball kids that drew 360 competitors for just 24 slots.“The demand for ball kids was insane,” said Sierra Roberts, the manager of the Laver Cup ball crew. “There’s just so much buzz.“For a lot of the juniors who are going pro,” she said, the players in the tournament are “the heroes they never get to watch or be a ball kid for.”Helping youth was where this bid began — at a golf tournament. In September 2018, Collens was at a charity golf event outside Vancouver raising money for local children to play organized sports, when she was paired with Dave Pentland, a shipping executive. He was also an avid tennis player.“I asked him, ‘What do you think about the Laver Cup — is this for real?’” she said. Pentland promised to let her know, as he was leaving the next day for the second iteration of the event, in Chicago. He sent Collens dazzling pictures from the hospitality suites and court; his contacts got Zacks in touch with Collens.As an event manager for the 2010 Winter Games, Collens specialized in hospitality. In 2019, she had designers make an app for Zacks’s scouting team that held a digital itinerary, with the Laver Cup logo on each site on a map. A mixologist made specialty cocktails named for city highlights.Still, Boston won for the 2020 event, which was then moved to 2021 because of Covid. The event alternates between Europe and world sites, and London was chosen for 2022. By then, the Laver Cup had engaged a London-based firm to handle soaring interest from about 60 cities, Zacks said.Vancouver, with its established relationship and international allure, beat out some 20 cities vying to host in 2023 “the Ryder Cup of tennis,” as Zacks calls it. The Laver Cup’s mission, he added, has been to grow the game, bringing it to “new fans and new locations.”The event begins Thursday with a practice session for the community in Rogers Arena, with ticket proceeds going to a local charity. That night, guests and players will attend a black-tie gala in the glass-windowed convention center overlooking the harbor. The Olympic Cauldron, resting in a fountain outside, will be lit up in the colors of red (for Team World, including Canada and the United States) and blue (Team Europe).One wrinkle in the meticulous plan appeared when Coldplay sold out two concerts during the Laver Cup at BC Place, a 55,000-seat venue directly across the street from Rogers Arena, with 17,000 seats for tennis. Prices for hotel rooms skyrocketed, Collens acknowledged.But she reassured Laver Cup officials that they had handled far bigger crowds and simultaneous events, including the Winter Olympics.“‘I invited you to my city,’” Collens said she told them. “‘I’m going to hold your hand and make sure you have a seamless experience setting this up.’” More

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      The Laver Cup Underlines a Generational Shift in Tennis

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      Young players are stepping up as some older ones fade. Even Roger Federer, the event’s father, has retired.Coming into this year’s U.S. Open, Ben Shelton felt that he had something to prove. But it didn’t have anything to do with the final major championship of the year, where he reached the semifinals before falling to the eventual winner, Novak Djokovic.Instead, Shelton thought he had to justify his inclusion on the six-man Team World in the Laver Cup, an elite competition that begins Friday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.“When the announcement first came out, I saw all these comments on Instagram, like, ‘Why did you take him? Why? Why this guy? There’s so many higher-ranked players,’” said Shelton, who entered the U.S. Open at No. 47 in the world but is now No. 19 because of his semifinal finish in New York. “I wanted to show people that maybe I deserved to be on the team.”The Laver Cup began in Prague in 2017 and trades continents each year between Europe and North America. Team Europe, captained by Bjorn Borg, who won 11 majors, features Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Hubert Hurkacz, Gaël Monfils, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Arthur Fils. John McEnroe, who won seven major singles titles, is captain of Team World. His players are Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Francisco Cerundolo.Last year’s event in London was noteworthy because it featured Roger Federer’s final match before retirement. His greatest rivals, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, all showed up to honor him. His last match, a doubles loss with his teammate Nadal to Tiafoe and Jack Sock, was a tearful tribute to the 20-time major champion.This year’s Laver Cup represents a generational shift in the sport. Federer has retired, and Nadal, 37, has not played an ATP match since the Australian Open in January because of injuries.Murray, at age 36, is not the player he was when he captured the U.S. Open in 2012, Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, and became world No. 1 in 2016. And Djokovic, who won his 24th major at the U.S. Open less than two weeks ago and is the current No. 1, is focusing on winning another major.“The end of an era heralds the beginning of a new one,” said Rod Laver — the player for whom the competition is named — who was part of his own generation’s rivalries with Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe and Jan Kodes, among others. “Today’s leading younger players are jockeying for pole position, and we’ll get to see them competing in a team setting in Vancouver, which weaves the eras together.”Bjorn Borg, left, is the captain of Team Europe, and John McEnroe leads Team World.Andrew Boyers/Action Images, via ReutersMcEnroe, who had his own spirited rivalries with Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl throughout the 1970s and ’80s, lamented that the Laver Cup had not generated the same appeal among the players as the Ryder Cup, the team event in golf.“The goal was to make it like golf’s Ryder Cup, where everyone was waiting until the last minute to see who was hottest, but everyone was available,” McEnroe said. “It doesn’t seem to be the case now. It’s tougher to get everyone committed.”Carlos Alcaraz, the reigning Wimbledon champ and world No. 2, has declined to play, as has the U.S. Open runner-up and the world No. 3, Daniil Medvedev. But six of the next 11 ranked players are competing this year, and three others, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alex de Minaur, have played in the past.This year, Team Europe will play without its powerful core of Federer, Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, Alcaraz and Medvedev. Winners in each of the first four years, the Europeans lost on the last day last year when Team World’s Auger-Aliassime beat Djokovic and Tiafoe outlasted Tsitsipas.Paul, who beat Alcaraz in a tournament in Canada this summer but then lost to Shelton at the U.S. Open, said he was keenly aware of the void left by the Big Four.“It’s definitely a big loss for tennis in general, not just Laver Cup,” he said. “It obviously gives us a pretty good opportunity.”Fritz, who last year won his only Laver Cup singles match, acknowledged the generational shift.“I think times are definitely changing,” said Fritz, who is the top-ranked American at No. 8. “It’s going to be a really different Laver Cup this year with how Team Europe is made up.”Tiafoe, who lost in the U.S. Open quarterfinals to Shelton, agreed.“Yeah, it’s generational,” Tiafoe said during the Open. “I think the fans are going to appreciate the new faces. Tennis is at a great place; the level is getting better and better.”“When I was watching on TV, I was thinking, the way they are so excited, it’s not real,” Andrey Rublev said. “But when you get there, you want to win. You get with the team, you start to feel the support, and you don’t want to let them down.”Mike Stobe/Getty ImagesBefore he first played in 2021, Rublev was skeptical of the event, which awards no ATP ranking points.“When I was watching on TV, I was thinking, the way they are so excited, it’s not real,” he said. “But when you get there, you want to win. You get with the team, you start to feel the support, and you don’t want to let them down.”Fritz is also aware of the camaraderie of the team competition that is so rare in tennis. Last year, members of Team Europe watched a doubles practice session between Federer and Nadal and Murray and Djokovic. Both teams sat intently on the sidelines during each match, cheering and giving coaching advice.In tennis, when you win, Fritz said during the U.S. Open, “you don’t really have people to celebrate with and have fun with. Winning last year, I felt like that was one of the top moments of my tennis career because we were able to celebrate with a group of my close friends.”Seismic movements in tennis are nothing new. After Laver and his rivals, and Borg-McEnroe-Connors-Lendl, came Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang. Each time an era ends, there are those who feel that there can never be one as great.Then came Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray. And now Alcaraz has emerged to challenge Djokovic, as have other talented young players.Shelton, who turns 21 next month, is one of them. A former player at the University of Florida, he helped the Gators to the 2021 N.C.A.A. team championship. He then won the N.C.A.A. singles title the next year before leaving school and turning pro last year.At the Open this year, Shelton became the youngest American man to reach the semifinals since Chang did in 1992. For Shelton, the Laver Cup has a special attraction.“I’m pretty pumped to be in the team atmosphere,” he said at the U.S. Open. “First team competition I’ve been part of since I left college. I’m going to be just as amped and emotional in Vancouver as I was here.” More

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      Frances Tiafoe Talks of Family, His Game and Race

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      He rose to the top 10 this year and had a good showing at the U.S. Open. His family, he said, means “everything to me.”Frances Tiafoe was making the rounds. Upstairs, downstairs, inside, outside. Touching all corners of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, conducting 90-second interviews, shaking hands, trying hard to manage a smile for everyone in his path.It was the eve of the United States Open last month, and Tiafoe, 25, was returning to the scene of his greatest triumph, a semifinal finish at the 2022 Open that included an upset of the four-time champion Rafael Nadal.The Open represented Tiafoe’s coming-out party. Ranked No. 26 entering the tournament last year, he began this year’s Open in the top 10, largely on the strength of winning two ATP titles, in Houston and Stuttgart, Germany, this season. He also reached the semifinals at Indian Wells before losing to Daniil Medvedev.But Tiafoe, whose career began when his parents emigrated from Sierra Leone and his father became head of maintenance at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Md., struggled at the majors this year.He lost in the third round at the Australian and French Opens and at Wimbledon. At the U.S. Open, he was defeated in the quarterfinals by a fellow American, Ben Shelton.Tiafoe and Shelton were chosen by John McEnroe, the captain of Team World, to play in the Laver Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia.At last year’s cup, Tiafoe and Jack Sock beat Nadal and Roger Federer in the final match of Federer’s career. Tiafoe then beat Stefanos Tsitsipas to clinch victory for Team World. It was the first time in the five-year history of the event that Team Europe failed to win.The following interview has been edited and condensed.What was it like to play Roger and Rafa in Roger’s last match?Me and Jack were joking, should we go hard, should we not, should we make it a good show? I’m glad we went out there and played hard.The result was so irrelevant. Tennis won that night.What did you say to Roger when you met at the net after the final point?“Thank you for the last 20-plus years. Thank you not only for your on-court play, but for who you are as an individual. What you’ve done will never die.”At last year’s Laver Cup, Tiafoe and Jack Sock beat Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the final match of Federer’s career.Kin Cheung/Associated PressThen, in the clinching match, you had to save four match points against Tsitsipas?Man, it felt like I was down 100 match points. It was crazy. I had never experienced something like that before. Incredible shotmaking with legends sitting on the bench. It was an unbelievable atmosphere.When you look back on this year, do you say it’s been a great year, or that you need to kick it up a notch?I think it’s been a great year outside of the Slams. But the Slams are the only thing I really care about, to be fair.You’ve spoken about Arthur Ashe and the privilege of being a man of color in this sport. But Arthur also spoke of the burden he felt. Do you feel the pressure of being in this position and having to motivate others?One hundred percent, because it’s not like basketball or football, which are predominantly sports of color. Not only that you’re one of a few, but you’re doing it at a super high level. There are expectations, but people are looking up to you and wanting to be like you. You’re in a position to change people’s lives. It’s definitely a burden, but at the same time it’s a blessing.You have mentioned that right before you play a match, the most important thing is that your mother tells you how much she loves you. How critical is your family to your success?Family is everything to me. I’d do anything for my family. I play this game at a high level for my family. That’s one of my biggest motivations every day. My family can’t even believe we’re in this position.Is there one life goal that defines you?Probably that when I’m done, both of my parents will be able to kick up their feet. I want to be in a position to help kids in Sierra Leone play the game of tennis. It’s not really about me. More