Andre Agassi takes over the mantle from John McEnroe, becomes new captain of Team World at Laver Cup
American tennis icon Andre Agassi was announced as the new captain of the Team World at the Laver Cup. Agassi is expected to start his role as team captain from the San Francisco edition of the Laver Cup scheduled to take place in 2025.
The Laver Cup started in 2017 named after the Australian icon Rod Laver. Since 2017 the tournament has consisted of two teams, which are Team Europe, and Team World. As the name suggests the former group consists of top European players and the other group consists of the top non-European players. The tournament was the brainchild of tennis legend Roger Federer with competent collaboration with Tennis Australia.
So far both teams were led by legendary figures in the world of tennis. Team World was led by John McEnroe for all six editions whereas Bjorn Borg has been the captain of Team Europe for all the editions.
Recently in an announcement made on Instagram, Andre Agassi was announced as the new captain of Team World, taking over from McEnroe. It was stated that Agassi would be at this year's Laver Cup in Berlin to get acquainted with his duties with his formal appointment set to take place next year in San Francisco.
"Introducing the next Team World Captain, Andre Agassi. Agassi will attend this year’s Laver Cup in Berlin to prepare for his new role and be formally introduced as the next Team World Captain. His term will begin with Laver Cup San Francisco 2025." on Instagram.
Team World won last year's edition by winning 13-2 against Team Europe.
Team Europe leads Team World 4-2 in the Laver Cup
After six editions of the Laver Cup, it is Team Europe that leads the tie in the tournament by 4-2. Team Europe won the tournament for four years consecutively from 2017 till 2021 with the 2020 tournament not being held due to the pandemic.
High-profile players such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray have played for Team Europe at the Laver Cup. Europe dominated the proceedings in the first few editions. In the early days, the results were decided on the last day of the tournament. However, in 2021 Team Europe blew Team World away with a scoreline of 13-2.
Team World won their first title in 2022. It was a significant win for the team after facing defeats for four successive years and winning against a star-studded lineup of Team Europe that had the Big Three in them. Notably, the 2022 tournament marked the beginning of Roger Federer's retirement.