MANY tennis fans love when the best of the best come together and face off in a huge week of action whether it be at Grand Slams or Davis Cups, or especially the ATP Finals series. One unique idea that began in 2017 was the Laver Cup, which pits the best ATP Tour players against each other based on their geographical region. Much like the Ryder Cup in golf, the Laver Cup has two sides: Team Europe and Team World.

There is nothing that exemplifies the change in men’s tennis than this tournament because 20 years ago, Team World would have wiped the floor with Team Europe. Now, Team Europe often has the six best players competing, with Team World left with the next six. In fairness to Team World, they actually get pretty close, in fact only went down 13-11 last year despite the 20th ranked John Isner being the highest ranked player, compared to 11th ranked Fabio Fognini who was the lowest ranked player on Team Europe. Interestingly enough, Team Europe could have been stronger if Novak Djokovic had played, with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas the other players alongside Fognini. Team World had Isner, Milos Raonic, Nick Kyrgios, Denis Shapovalov and Jack Sock. In other words, Kyrgios alongside all the North Americans.

Now rankings obviously change, so let’s take a look at what the best possible lineups for Team Europe against Team World be. We will start with Team Europe:

Team Europe:

#1 Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
#2 Rafael Nadal (Spain)
#3 Dominic Thiem (Austria)
#4 Roger Federer (Switzerland)
#5 Daniil Medvedev (Russia)
#6 Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece)

Hang on, but that is just the top six ranked players in the world. Yep, the top six players in the world all reside from Europe. If they wanted to give Team World a helping hand and allow Russia to be considered in Team World – as half the country is – then technically Medvedev could go to that side. But as Medvedev was born in Moscow – the European side – he would be zoned to Team Europe anyway.

Okay. so they have the top six players, the talent would now surely even out? Well, let us take a look at what would be Team Europe’s ‘B’ side.

Team Europe’s “B” side:

#7 Alexander Zverev (Germany)
#8 Matteo Berrettini (Italy)
#9 Gael Monfils (France)
#10 David Goffin (Belgium)
#11 Fabio Fognini (Italy)
#12 Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain)

It might look like just posting the rankings, but no, that is 100 per cent real, as of now, the top 12 players in the world on the ATP Tour are from Europe. So even if Team Europe’s A-graders sat out, they would have an entire side worth of players who are still ranked higher than Team World.

Alright now to look at Team World’s line-up, and its “B” side, starting with the next highest ranked player in world number 13, Diego Schwartzman.

Team World:

#13 Diego Schwartzman (Argentina)
#16 Denis Shapovalov (Canada)
#18 Cristian Garin (Chile)
#20 Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada)
#21 John Isner (USA)
#22 Taylor Fritz (Australia)

Team World’s “B” side:

#26 Alex de Minaur (Australia)
#30 Milos Raonic (Canada)
#31 Kei Nishikori (Japan)
#35 Guido Pella (Argentina)
#39 Reilly Opelka (USA)
#40 Nick Kyrgios (Australia)

In a rather bizarre way, Team World’s second side actually looks better than its top one. Aside from Schwartzman, every other player in that side is inconsistent and would struggle against anyone from the top Team Europe. The “B” side at least has players capable of upsetting the world’s best, with de Minaur, Raonic, Nishikori and Kyrgios all ranked lower than where they should be as they are top 20 players easily at their best.

The main message is though, is this really the most effective way to see the world’s best compete against each other? If both sides are full strength, Team Europe wins easily without question. So how do we potentially look at an alternative?

ALTERNATIVE #1 – Age-defined

One possible solution is taking out the countries altogether and looking at an age-defined way of sorting teams. For the purpose of this exercise, let us look at the Over 30s against the Under 30s, as that is an easy round number to define.

Over 30s:

#1 Novak Djokovic (32)
#2 Rafael Nadal (33)
#4 Roger Federer (38)
#9 Gael Monfils (#33)
#11 Fabio Fognini (32)
#12 Roberto Bautista Agut (31)

Under 30s:

#4 Dominic Thiem (26)
#5 Daniil Medvedev (24)
#6 Stefanos Tsitsipas (21)
#7 Alexander Zverev (22)
#8 Matteo Berrettini (23)
#10 David Goffin (29)

So straight away, the top 12 players in the world are competing and evenly split between the teams, which is a huge positive. The Over 30s still have the Big Three in Djokovic, Nadal and Federer, but then the Under 30s have the next five ranked players, before Monfils comes in at number nine, as well as the two lowest ranked players in Fognini and Bautista Agut. In what is eerily similar to a serpentine draft if you had three selections instead of one, the Over 30s have picked the three best players, then the Under 30s have selected their team with the Over 30s to pick the three remaining players.

There are the two other aspects to note with this alternative. First, players would change teams over time. Goffin is a perfect example. At 29-years-old, he is on the Under 30s, but next year he would represent the Over 30s. However by the same token, there is every chance by then Federer has retired. Either way, immediately this is a much closer alternative.

ALTERNATIVE #2 – School yard style (Two captains)

The second alternative could well be the most basic of principles. Players announce their availability and the top two ranked players select their teams one by one. In this scenario, we will say every player is available, and Djokovic and Nadal as the two highest ranked players are captains.

Djokovic has the first pick and selects his oldest rival in Federer, while Nadal chooses his clay court rival in Thiem. Djokovic is good mates with Zverev so picks him next, with Nadal choosing to go with ATP Finals winner, Tsitsipas. Djokovic goes best available in Medvedev, beore Nadal opts to go with the reliable Monfils. Djokovic would then likely pick Fognini, while Nadal opts for close mate, Bautista-Agut. There is every chance the pair pick outside the top group, and knowing Djokovic, he would go for someone like Wawrinka who is much better than his high ranking, while Nadal may look to the in-form Andrey Rublev.

Team Djokovic:

#1 Novak Djokovic
#4 Roger Federer
#5 Daniil Medvedev
#7 Alexander Zverev
#11 Fabio Fognini
#17 Stan Wawrinka

Team Nadal:

#2 Rafael Nadal
#3 Dominic Thiem
#6 Stefanos Tsitsipas
#9 Gael Monfils
#12 Roberto Bautista Agut
#14 Andrey Rublev

This is not an exact science, and is harder to work out how teams would go from year-to-year, but it allows for flexibility and engagement because the players can select those they think are able to compete for them. It could be a well publicised event and one that fans could get around too when it comes to team selection along with the competition itself. It is at least another alternative to the current model.

In summary. the Laver Cup is a terrific idea in principle, but in practice it is not something that equally distributes the world’s best on both teams.