THE 2021 Laver Cup is set to play out this weekend, with Team World looking to shake up the contest and blow away Team Europe at this year’s iteration of the event. While Team World – coached by American great John McEnroe – is yet to win a Laver Cup, this could be their best possible chance with the old guard somewhat in the process of changing hands and none of the “Big Three” – Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – set to participate in the event once more. With a smaller differential between top-end and bottom-end of the two teams than was seen at the 2019 event – which was the closest thus far – expect Team World to put up a real fight this time around.

The six-player, two-team competition is set to play over three days this weekend, featuring a day and a night session each with six singles and one double match per day. With the 2020 edition canceled due to COVID-19, this will be the first Laver Cup contested since 2019, with three members of that team, plus this year’s alternate, returning to the fray. While Team Europe is dominated by top 10 talents, Team World is closing in with only one rank between Team Europe’s Casper Ruud (world number 10) and Team World’s Felix Auger-Aliassime (world number 11) with the next four Team World members all ranked within the top 25. Nick Kyrgios is the outlier, sticking out at 95th in the world, but long carrying the skill and potential to rank much higher.

The matches are best of three, with the third set being a super tiebreak (first to 10 or win by two) to determine a winner if need be. The six players each compete in a singles match over the first two days, with the doubles combinations also needing to be different. The winner team must reach 13 points, with a point awarded to the Friday winners, two points to the Saturday winners and three points to the Sunday winners, putting greater emphasis on the later matches.

TEAM WORLD LINEUP:

Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada)
Denis Shapovalov (Canada)
Diego Schwartzman (Argentina)
Reilly Opelka (United States)
John Isner (United States)
Nick Kyrgios (Australia)

Led by young Canadians Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, this year is realistically Team World’s best chance to contend for the Laver Cup, with American servers John Isner and Reilly Opelka looking to really test the European talents and selected alongside Kyrgios as coach McEnroe’s final picks. Diego Schwartzman is a solid all-rounder set to build on his experience, and may be the shortest of the players selected – indeed, the shortest player within the top 100 – but has the capacity to really challenge his opposition with great court coverage and counter-punching.

While none of the aforementioned group has claimed a grand slam, just one of the Team Europe squad has – though not for a lack of trying with three finalists from this year alone. That is not to say that Team World does not have a chance though, with the experience of Kyrgios and Isner sure to pay off given the duo has competed in the event since the very first year. Factor in that Team World was only a tiebreak away from victory in 2019, and the team has nothing to lose this year, especially with in-form talent in Opelka driving up the rankings in recent months and joining Auger-Aliassime at a current career-high ranking.

Overall, winning mentality is everything and that is something Team Europe has in spades, regardless of the intent Team World will bring to the contests. While they will be able to contain the European squad in patches and create upsets with all six players hard court specialists and boasting a couple of heavy servers in the mix, Team Europe has a heap of class and will make it a challenge from start to end.

Picture credit: Darren Carroll/USTA