TENNIS
How are the tennis players who participate in the Laver Cup chosen?
The Berlin-based tennis tournament has a specific way in which the players are decided. Here’s the breakdown:
The Laver Cup is set to get underway on September 20 in the German capital of Berlin and a host of world stars are set to compete in two teams for the trophy.
Team Europe will go up against Team Rest of the World who will go head to head in five sessions played over three days (Friday 20 – Sunday 22).
How are Laver Cup players chosen?
The official website of the Laver Cup explains the team selection process in the following words:
The top three-ranked players for each team earn a guaranteed invitation based on their ATP singles ranking on the Monday after Roland-Garros. The remaining three players will be ‘captain’s picks’ and named any time before the start of the US Open. If any players are announced prior to Roland-Garros, the respective team captain is committing to using a captain’s pick on any or all of them if they do not qualify based on ranking.
Who are the Laver Cup 2024 team captains?
For the Laver Cup, a tennis legend captains each team. This year, Björn Borg is the captain of Team Europe and John McEnroe is the captain of Team World.
How do the Laver Cup points work?
Each match win is worth one point on Friday, two points on Saturday, and three points on Sunday, and the golden number is a total of 13 points out of 24. If we have a tie after all 12 matches, a final overtime doubles match – the aforementioned Decider – is played as a regular set with ad scoring and a tiebreak. If, as may be the case, just one match is needed on Sunday, an exhibition match will be played after the trophy ceremony.
Friday’s lineup is announced on Thursday afternoon and Saturday’s lineup is announced an hour after play ends on Friday night. As for Sunday’s lineup, that will be announced an hour after play ends on Saturday night. The official guidelines state that “match-ups are determined through the exchange of lineup cards by the captains”.
In terms of the rules, both singles and doubles matches will be set up as best of three sets with ad scoring. A third set, a 10-point match tiebreaker, will be allowed if the sets are split at the end.
Each player will compete in at least one singles match held across the first two days but there is a limit of two singles matches in three days for players. Regarding the doubles, four of the six players (at least) must participate, and combinations are not allowed to be repeated. The only case in which this may occur is, according to the official guidelines, “if points are 12:12 in the Decider on Day 3.”