IN yesterday’s opinion article, we took a look at the current format of the ATP Tour’s Laver Cup, a team tournament which pits Team Europe off against Team World. We analysed how the current method is not the best way to have the closest contest, and some alternatives that the Tour could look at to mix it up.

The WTA Tour does not have an equivalent event of the Laver Cup. If it did and they followed the same format, it could be called the Williams Cup – after Serena –  who even though her career has not ended, has every right to be considered the greatest singles player of all time. Unlike the ATP’s Laver Cup, the format of Team Europe against Team World works perfectly for the WTA Tour given the current state of play in the women’s world rankings.

Let us take a look at the teams.

Team Europe:

#2 Simona Halep (Romania)
#3 Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic)
#5 Elina Svitolina (Ukraine)
#7 Kiki Bertens (Netherlands)
#8 Belinda Bencic (Switzerland)
#11 Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus)

Team World:

#1 Ash Barty (Australia)
#4 Sofia Kenin (USA)
#6 Bianca Andreescu (Canada)
#9 Serena Williams (USA)
#10 Naomi Osaka (Japan)
#13 Madison Keys (USA)

Looking at those teams, Europe is a touch stronger, but World has the current world number one in Barty, as well as the greatest player to have played the game in Williams. It also has Grand Slam winners in Kenin, Andreescu and Osaka who are all young, and in fact after Williams (38-years-old), the next oldest is Keys (25). Europe has a mix of older and younger players with the likes of Halep, Pliskova and Bertens leading the way for the younger players coming through such as Bencic and Sabalenka.

The main message from this is that unlike the men’s which is so heavily slanted to Team Europe (the top 12 players in the world are from the European region) the teams would be even and it would be a team event that would be highly anticipated.

So is there a potential for it to get disproportionate in talent?

There is no doubt the World talent drops off significantly after that top half dozen, with Alison Riske (#18) the next highest – the five between Riske and Keys are all European as well as 12th ranked Czech, Petra Kvitova – so if the ‘B’ sides faced off it would be more one-sided. This is not so much of a problem until players from that main side become unavailable.

Both Andreescu and Osaka have had injury issues, and Williams herself is in the twilight years, so if they left, who replaces them? Well aside from Riske, who is 30 herself, the next highest is world number 28 Amanda Anisimova. Then there are the trio of Chinese talents in Qiang Wang, Saisai Zheng and Shuai Zhang, while Sloane Stephens would round out the ‘B’ side. All of a sudden the World Team looks a little shaky. Inconsistency and uncertainty would describe that team. You do not want to look at the comparable ‘C’ teams either.

But the main message at this stage is, if the players were able to compete, the Williams Cup would be something they could get around. Furthermore, imagine when Williams herself retires and she could coach the team – perhaps Venus could do it before that happens – while for Team Europe, it could be someone like Amelie Mauresmo or Kim Clijsters for example.

Either way, it is time the WTA Tour at least had the same opportunities as the ATP Tour if that is something the players would get behind.