The 6th edition of the Laver Cup tournament, initiated by Roger Federer, is behind us. The first 4 editions of the event were won by the European team. Last year, the scales tipped in favor of the World team. This year, the World won too. Team Europe played exceptionally poor tennis.
Laver Cup is a men’s team tennis tournament, which was established in 2016 on the initiative of the Swiss tennis player Roger Federer. The event was named after former Australian player Rod Laver.
Every year, six tennis players from the European Team and six from the World Team take part in the Laver Cup. Everything takes place under the leadership of Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, who are team coaches – McEnroe commands the world group, Borg leads the European formation. This year, Hubert Hurkacz was called up to the tournament for the first time. The Pole was selected by Bjorn Borg for the European team. However, even Hurkacz was unable to help Europe. Bjorn Borg’s team lost the tournament to the World team with a score of 2-13, which seems impossible considering the history of Europe’s achievements in the Laver Cup.
After winning the first 4 editions of the Laver Cup and only narrowly losing in last year’s tournament, few would have predicted that Europe would lose to the World team by a one-sided score. Casper Ruud was the only member of Team Europe to win a match during the three-day event. Although several other matches were close, Europa was unable to win, and the opponents’ tennis was definitely better, stronger, more solid and faster. This defeat shows how much of an impact the lack of European talents such as Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal had on the event this year. Even though team captain Bjorn Borg only won one of the nine matches played in the 2023 Laver Cup, he said he was pleased with the effort his team put in. He also announced that the Laver Cup will also be held next year, and he will again lead the European team.
