New Ryder Cup-Style Tennis Event Created By Federer's Agency Set To Debut Next Year

The Laver Cup, a new tennis event that will "match the best players from Europe against the best from the rest of the world over three days of competition in singles and doubles," is set to debut next year, according to Christopher Clarey of the N.Y. TIMES. Each team would have six players and there would be "three singles matches and one doubles match per day." If there was a tie after the 12 matches, a "final doubles match would be played to determine the winner." The event was created by Team8, which represents Roger Federer and "has the backing of Tennis Australia," as well as A-B InBev Controlling Shareholder & BOD member Jorge Paulo Lemann, a former Davis Cup player from Brazil. The Laver Cup, named after HOFer Rod Laver, would not have a permanent site and would be held "annually in late September" except for Olympic years. While the event if based on golf's Ryder Cup, Team8 agent Tony Godsick said that the "inspiration for the Laver Cup came from Federer." Godsick added that Federer "charged him more than two years ago with creating something that would have the potential to endure and would honor Laver" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/29). In Australia, Courtney Walsh reported there are "issues to overcome" for the event, including the fact rival management companies "may be against the idea of allowing their stars to promote another organisation." Additionally, the calendar is crowded, with additional events like the Int'l Premier Tennis League "adding to player commitments" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 1/30). ESPN's Matt Wilansky reported Laver said, "Hopefully the top players will want to participate. It's a learning curve of trying to get the right scheduling and the right amount of play with all of [the] different players around the world" (ESPN, 1/29).

CASH NOT SOLD: The AAP reported former Australian tennis player Pat Cash said that the newly proposed tennis teams event "could struggle for credibility." The exhibition tournament "is to be played over a September weekend in non-Olympic years but Cash doubts whether the world’s best players will sign up." He also suggested the tournament that would suffer most "would be the Davis Cup." Cash said, "I like the concept but I don’t know if players will take it seriously." Nick Kyrgios, who on the ATP rankings at the time of the announcement "was the seventh-highest ranked non-European, agreed with Cash" (AAP, 1/30).

Like the idea of this #LaverCup but agree with @TheRealPatCash how can we fit it in between @usopen & @DavisCup #Doubtful #NiceIdea

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) January 30, 2016

TIME FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT: IPTL Founder Mahesh Bhupathi appeared on Tennis Channel's coverage of the Australian Open and said he believed the league is "something unique and something fresh" in the sport. Bhupathi said, "The format is quick and it's made for TV, matches definitely not lasting more than three hours. In every sport over the past 20 years, there has been innovation. When it comes to the IPTL, we’ve tried to make those tweaks which have been talked about in tennis before and not been able to implemented because there's always push back." Tennis Channel’s Jon Wertheim said the IPTL is "great" for the sport, as it goes "to these markets that aren’t served by tennis." Wertheim: "Everyone is trying to figure out how are we going to get into Asia, India in particular. Tennis is there. The only problem is it is in December during the offseason, and the players routinely complain about the length of the offseason.” Tennis Channel’s Martina Navratilova said, “I love the team concept. Men and women are treated equally, which is always good. ... I like the concept, but as Jon says, you cannot complain about the season being too long if you play there” (“Tennis Channel Live,” Tennis Channel, 1/26).