Andre Agassi takes on captain duties earlier than expected, joins John McEnroe in offering advice to Thanasi Kokkinakis at Laver Cup 2024
Amid Thanasi Kokkinakis' match against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2024 Laver Cup, Andre Agassi joined John McEnroe in Team World's captaincy duties. This is McEnroe's final edition as captain, with Agassi set to take the reins next year.
The seventh edition of the Laver Cup kicked off on Friday, September 20, with Team Europe's Casper Ruud taking on Team World's Francisco Cerundolo. World No. 9 Ruud faced a 4-6, 4-6 defeat against World No. 31 Cerundolo at the Uber Arena in Berlin.
In the next singles match, Kokkinakis was hoping to extend Team World's lead but could not repeat his US Open heroics. At the New York Major, the Aussie got the better of Tsitsipas 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the first round. At the Laver Cup, the Greek avenged his defeat with a convincing 6-1, 6-4 win over Kokkinakis.
Amidst the second singles match, a video of Agassi imparting advice to Kokkinakis in the presence of McEnroe was shared by Justin Gimelstob on his Instagram Story. He captioned it:
"Already getting to work!"
Agassi reposted the story with a trophy emoji.
Team World and Team Europe were tied at 1-1 after the day session was over. In the night session on Day 1, Grigor Dimitrov will take on Alejandro Tabilo in the singles while Alexander Zverev will team up with Carlos Alcaraz to take on the pair of Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton in the doubles.
"Andre Agassi is going to do a great job" - John McEnroe shows confidence in compatriot's skills ahead of Laver Cup duties
Andre Agassi will replace John McEnroe as Team World's captain from the 2025 Laver Cup. McEnroe has shown confidence in his compatriot's ability to lead the team while also stating that he will have more fun watching from the sidelines after his captaincy duties end.
“Andre is going to do a great job... I played him when he was 16 or 17, he had that personality, and you just knew something big was going to happen. He has that special quality that people love," John McEnroe said (via the Laver Cup).
“He’s probably more analytic-driven than I am… players are going to love him as well. It’s going to be fun to watch from more of a distance the next couple of years.”
After facing defeat in the first four editions, McEnroe has helped Team World triumph the last two years. He also lightheartedly threatened his team to win it for him one last time this year.
Meanwhile, Team Europe captain Bjorn Borg will also bid adieu to his role at the event. He will be replaced by Yannick Noah from next year.