LAVER CUP Update • Rafael Nadal & Roger Federer To Lead Tennis Parade Of Champions In Prague

Written by: Staff on 19th September 2017

LAVER CUP Update • Rafael Nadal & Roger Federer To Lead Tennis Parade Of Champions In Prague

Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a return to Kevin Anderson of South Africa during their US Open Tennis Championships men's final round match at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 10 September 2017. The US Open runs through September 10. EPA-EFE/JUSTIN LANE |

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to lead parade of champions in Prague on Wednesday

Historic first glimpse of Laver Cup Team Europe and Team World
Young gun Frances Tiafoe steps in for late withdrawal Juan Martin del Potro
Big crowds expected in Prague’s historic Old Town Square to greet world’s best players

World No.1 Rafael Nadal and No.2 Roger Federer will lead the parade of Laver Cup players at an official welcome ceremony in Prague on Wednesday which will be live-streamed via @LaverCup on Twitter, Periscope, Facebook Live and YouTube.

Fierce competitors for more than a decade, the pair will set aside their storied rivalry to become teammates when six of the best players from Europe take on their counterparts from the rest of the world at the O₂ arena, September 22-24, 2017.

The players and captains from each team, as well as the legendary Rod Laver, will be officially welcomed to the city of Prague in the historic Old Town Square, with thousands of fans expected to turn out to catch a glimpse of their heroes.

Nadal and Federer will be joined by Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem and Tomas Berdych for Team Europe captained by Björn Borg.

Rising American star Frances Tiafoe is a late addition to Team World following the withdrawal of Juan Martin del Potro.

“It is with much sadness that I will not be able to compete in the first Laver Cup, but unfortunately I am not completely healthy after my US Open semifinal run. I just need more time for my body to fully recover and I am not ready to compete at 100%. It was an honor to be selected to participate in this event and I am sure it will be a great success,” del Potro said.

Tiafoe joins big-hitting Americans Sam Querrey and John Isner along with the next generation of fire and star power in Nick Kyrgios, Jack Sock and Denis Shapovalov.

TEAM EUROPE	TEAM WORLD

Björn Borg – Captain	Captain: John McEnroe
Thomas Enqvist – Vice Captain	Patrick McEnroe – Vice Captain
[1] Rafael Nadal	[16] Sam Querrey
[2] Roger Federer	[17] John Isner
[4] Alexander Zverev	[20] Nick Kyrgios
[5] Marin Cilic	[21] Jack Sock
[7] Dominic Thiem	[51] Denis Shapovalov
[19] Tomas Berdych	[72] Frances Tiafoe
[40] Fernando Verdasco (alternate)	[PR81] Thanasi Kokkinakis (alternate)

Rankings as at September 18, 2017

Laver Cup fast facts

The Laver Cup is a three-day tournament pitting a team of six of the best tennis players from Europe against six of their counterparts from the rest of the world
For the first three years, Björn Borg will captain Team Europe and John McEnroe will lead Team World
Thomas Enqvist will act as vice captain for Team Europe and Patrick McEnroe for Team World
The tournament has been named in honor of Australian tennis legend Rod Laver, the only man to win two calendar-year Grand Slams, and one of the greatest players of all time
The unique format of the tournament will showcase tennis superstars competing on the same team, playing singles, pairing up in doubles and cheering each other from the sidelines
The inaugural Laver Cup will be held at the O₂ arena in Prague, Czech Republic, from September 22-24, 2017
The location will rotate between major cities in Europe and the rest of the world each year
The 2018 edition of the Laver Cup will take place in the United States
The Laver Cup will be staged annually two weeks after the US Open, except in summer Olympic years.

Playing format

Each team will comprise six players and be led by a team captain
The competition will be played over three days – Friday, Saturday and Sunday
There will be five sessions, two on Friday and Saturday, and one on Sunday
Four matches will be played daily, three singles and one doubles
Both singles and doubles will be best-of-three sets with ad scoring, with the third set decided by a 10-point tiebreak in the event of split sets
In the event of a tie after all 12 matches have been completed, a final overtime doubles match will be played as a regular set with ad scoring and a tiebreak
Each player will play at least one singles match during the first two days
No player will play singles more than twice during the three days
At least four of the six players must play doubles
Match-ups will be determined prior to each day of play through the exchange of lineup cards by the captains
Each match win will be worth one point on Friday, two points on Saturday and three points on Sunday.

The Laver Cup is a joint initiative between TEAM8, Tennis Australia, the USTA and Jorge Paulo Lemann and is supported by Founding Partner Rolex and Global Sponsors JPMorgan Chase and Mercedes-Benz.

Topics: Frances Tiafoe, Juan Martin Del Potro, Laver Cujp, Rafael Nadal, Rod Laver, Roger Federer, Tennis, Tennis Parade of Champions, tennsi news