How are Laver Cup players chosen and how is decided who plays who?
As the ATP tennis’ unique team-format, the Laver Cup features six players per team and the decision is made by a combination of standings and picks
The Laver Cup is the only ATP tournament that is based on the team format. While this is interesting in itself, there is no benefit to the players ATP standings for playing in the tournament, since the score does not count toward their ATP total.
For a player who wants to compete in the Laver Cup, however, the ATP standing is all-important as it determines who gets invited.
Team composition
Each team is comprised of six players, three of whom are invited based on their ATP singles rankings and three of whom are chosen by the team captain. The Monday following the French Open, the ATP rankings are scoured and the top three players from Europe, and conversely from everywhere else for Team World, are invited to participate.
The two team captains are chosen from legends of the sport. Currently, Team Europe is captained by Björn Borg, while Team World is captained by John McEnroe. The captains are responsible for selecting the three players who will join the ATP selections for their team, as well as determining who will play in the singles and doubles tournaments.
Who plays who
The lineup for each match will be announced by and exchange of lineup cards by the team captains the day before play. So Friday’s lineup is announced Thursday afternoon, Saturday’s lineup is announced one hour after play ends on Friday night, and Sunday’s lineup is announced one hour after play ends on Saturday night.
Each player must compete in at least one singles match on Friday or Saturday and no player can play more than two singles matches. At least four of the six must play a doubles match, and each team has an alternate player who may replace one of the six in case of injury. Roger Federer, for example, has announced that this year he will be replaced by Europe’s alternate following his first singles match.