Laver Cup - All you need to know about the cash-rich tournament
What is the Laver Cup?
The Laver Cup is an exhibition indoor hard court tournament between two teams that have some of the best players in the world. This tournament is conducted by Roger Federer's management company, TEAM8, former player Jorge Paulo Lemann, and Tennis Australia.
This tournament is believed to be the Ryder Cup's (Golf) equivalent of tennis as it has world's best players playing alongside each other. If not for this tournament, the fans wouldn't have had the privilege to witness both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer playing a doubles match alongside each other.
This is an annual tournament and takes place a couple of weeks after the year's final Grand Slam, the US Open. The two teams that take part in the tournament are Team Europe, which includes six top players from the continent of Europe, and Team World, which is composed of six players from non-European countries. The tournament is named after tennis great Rod Laver.
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There will be a total of 12 matches (nine singles and three doubles) that will be played over three days (three singles and one doubles every day). Each player can play a maximum of two singles and it is mandatory for at least four of them to play in doubles.
All matches are played in a best-of-three format with the first to get 10 points in the third set taking the set and the game as well. Each victory gives the victorious team a number of points equal to the day the match was played on. The first team to claim 13 points will win the tournament.
Where is the next Laver Cup?
The first edition was held at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic, and Team Europe that had Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in it, beat Team World 15-9. The second edition had Federer and Novak Djokovic playing in the same team and it was held in Chicago with Team Europe winning the tournament 13–8.
The third edition will be held at the Palexpo in Geneva from September 20 and will go all the way till September 22 later this year. It won't be surprising if the fans witness the Big 3, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic playing for the same side this year.
Is there prize money for the Laver Cup?
The players will get participation fees which are based on their ATP rankings while each member of the winning team gets $250,000 in prize money.