ROGER FEDERER & RAFA NADAL LEAD EUROPE INTO INAUGURAL LAVER CUP TENNIS ON TV FRIDAY

Written by: Staff on 21st September 2017

ROGER FEDERER & RAFA NADAL LEAD EUROPE INTO INAUGURAL LAVER CUP TENNIS ON TV FRIDAY

epa06215389 (L-R) Croatian tennis player Marin Cilic, German Alexander Zverev, Swiss Roger Federer and Spanish Rafael Nadal attend the welcome parade of the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the Old Town Square in Prague, Czech Republic, 20 September 2017. The first Laver Cup will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, from 22 to 24 September 2017. It is a three-day tournament pitting a team of the six best tennis players from Europe against six opponents from the rest of the world. The tournament has been named in honor of Australian tennis legend Rod Laver. EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK |

Federer, Nadal lead Europe into inaugural Laver Cup against Team World

By Ricky Dimon

The much-anticipated first installment of the annual Laver Cup is here, ready to thrill fans inside the Prague, Czech Republic’s O2 Arena this weekend from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening. Whereas golf’s Ryder Cup features Europe going up against the United States, tennis’ version pits the Europeans versus the rest of the world.

During the three days of action, there will be a day and night session on both Friday and Saturday before a four-match afternoon slate on Sunday. Four matches–three singles and one doubles–are played each day. Both the singles and the doubles matches will be best-of-three sets with ad scoring. If sets are split, the third will be decided by a 10-point tiebreaker.

Each man on the six-player teams will contest at least one singles match during the first two days, and no competitor will play singles more than twice during the three days. At least four of the six men on each team must play doubles and no doubles combination can take the court together more than once. Each match win will be worth one point on Friday, two points Saturday, and three points Sunday. The winning side must reach 13 points out of an available 24. In the event of a 12-12 tie after all 12 matches are completed, a final overtime doubles match–a Decider–will be held as a regular set with ad scoring and a tiebreaker. In the Decider, a doubles pairing that has already been used can play together again

The Europeans boast Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, and Tomas Berdych. Team World might as well be Team North America plus Nick Kyrgios. Joining the Australian are Sam Querrey, John Isner, Jack Sock, Frances Tiafoe, and Denis Shapovalov.

Federer and Nadal will play doubles together for Team Europe on either Saturday or Sunday. The two all-time greats have never paired up before on the ATP Tour.

“I made him wait,” Federer joked. “When you make somebody wait, they appreciate it more. So that’s why he’s so excited….. “I just hope we are going to win. I hope we didn’t wait too long, because we’re too old now.”

“Good things wait,” Nadal added. “But I don’t know if that much wait is going to be for a good thing or a negative thing.”