In honour of one of the greatest tennis players ever, Rod Laver, the inaugural Laver Cup will be held in Prague, pitting Europe, captained by Bjorn Borg, against the rest of the world, led by John McEnroe.
Thomas Enqvist will be Borg’s vice-captain, while Patrick Mcenroe will deputise for his brother.
Patrick is the longest-serving Davis Cup captain in US history, while Enqvist rose to world No.4 and took up playing tennis as Borg was his idol.
Team Europe will consist of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Alexander Zverev, Dominc Thiem, Marin Cilic and Tomas Berdych.
The rest of the world will have Juan Martín del Potro, Jack Sock, John Isner, Sam Querrey, youngster Denis Shapovalov, and the incredibly talented but mercurial Nick Kyrgios.
The three-day exhibition will have four best-of-three matches every day, including a doubles match. If a match goes to the third set, it will be a tiebreaker of ten instead of a full set.
Four of the six players are automatic selections, as per ATP rankings, while two are picked by the legendary captains. Borg and McEnroe will be captain for three years each, before new leaders are selected. The tournament will be played alternatively between Europe and USA as hosts, and will be an annual affair except on Olympic years.
The rules and scoring pattern will surely test the tactical acumen of both captains, with Day 1 matches worth one point each, Day 2 worth two, and Day 3 worth three, the first team to reach 13 points being declared winner.
If both teams are level at 12 each, a final match will be played on the third day. Each of the six will have to play at least one singles match on all three days, and no one can play more than two matches in total.
At least four of the six have to play one doubles match, and teams cannot be repeated.
My prediction is that, with both Rafa and Fed in the same team, Team Europe will emerge the victors.
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