Laver Cup 2022: teams, captains, matches, schedule and results

The 2022 Laver Cup will be an historic occasion, marking the final time the “Big Four” of modern tennis will be seen together in a competitive environment. Roger Federer, who announced his retirement from the ATP Tour last week, was one of the driving forces behind the Laver Cup, which was inaugurated in 2017 as an annual tournament pitting the best players from Europe against the rest of the world over three days. Team Europe have dominated the competition since the first edition, winning all four Laver Cups that have been contested to date. That is hardly a surprise, given that Team Europe generally contains Nadal (3 appearances) and Federer (4), with support from Djokovic in 2018 and the likes of Grigor Dimitrov, Tomas Berdych, Marin Cilic, Fabio Fognini, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem also all having saddled up for the Old Continent.

Team World came close to upsetting the odds in 2019 in Geneva, assuming an 11-7 lead on the final day before Federer beat John Isner and Zverev saw off Milos Raonic to lead Team Europe to victory. Otherwise, it has been more or less plain sailing for Team Europe, who this year have added Andy Murray for a debut appearance to ensure the Big Four see Federer off into the sunset at his final ATP tournament. For Team World, pride is at stake: Team Europe thrashed their opponents 14-1 last year in Boston.

Laver Cup 2022: captains

As has been the case at every Laver Cup, the two teams will be captained by tennis legends Björn Borg and John McEnroe, ensuring plenty of entertainment on the sidelines as well as on court. McEnroe will be looking to get one over on his old sparring partner this year and it is perhaps Team World’s best chance claim a maiden Laver Cup. Federer will only play doubles and it remains to be seen if Nadal will compete in singles. Zverev is still recovering from ligament damage sustained at the French Open and Medvedev is absent.

However, Nick Kyrgios’ decision to miss the tournament for the first time has levelled the playing field a little. The Australian enjoyed his best season to date this year, reaching the Wimbledon final and winning the Australian Open in doubles and would have been a considerable test for any of Team Europe, which contains five top-10 players (if Federer’s protected ranking of nine is taken into account).

Team World’s highest-ranked player is Taylor Fritz (12), but McEnroe has US Open semifinalist Frances Tiafoe, Félix Auger-Aliassime, Diego Schwartzman and Alex de Minaur to call upon, as well as some serious doubles expertise from Jack Sock, who has won seven Laver Cup doubles matches.

Laver Cup 2022: confirmed players

Team Europe

Captain: Björn Borg

Players: Casper Ruud (2), Rafael Nadal (3), Stefanos Tsitsipas (7) Roger Federer (unranked, protected ranking 9), Andy Murray (43).

Alternates: Matteo Berrettini (15), Cameron Norrie (8)

Team World

Captain: John McEnroe

Players: Taylor Fritz (12), Félix Auger-Aliassime (13), Diego Schwartzman (17), Frances Tiafoe (19), Alex de Minaur (22), Jaco Sock (128).

Alternate: Tommy Paul (29)

Laver Cup 2022: opening matches

Matches at the Laver Cup are worth one point per win on day 1, two on day 2 and three on day 3, a format designed to ensure no side can win the competition before the final Sunday. Captains can pick and choose who to use on days 2 and 3, with all players playing at least one singles game and at least four different players from each team competing in doubles. All matches are played over two sets, with a 10-point tiebreaker used at 1-1.

Day 1 matches (Friday 23 September)

Day 2 follows the same format, while Day 3 starts with a doubles contest followed by the final three singles matches.