Ever since it entered the tennis calendar, the Laver Cup hasn't had the best position, and that might be a problem—at least this year's edition proved to be for many players.
The Laver Cup is an exhibition event recognized by the ATP, played in September, which is a very busy month in tennis. Not only is it straight after the US Open, which generally leaves many players fatigued and emotionally drained and looking for a week or two to recover, but the competition is also held straight after the Davis Cup, which again sees lots of these top players playing trying to help their countries secure a spot in the Final 8.
With the Laver Cup in that mix, some players play an insane amount of tennis on different continents. Take Taylor Fritz, for example, who had a really long stay in New York, reaching the final of the last Slam of the season, then played at the Laver Cup, and then quickly moved to Tokyo for the Japan Open.
Besides that fatigue, there is also the added event factor. It's one more event on the calendar, so there is more traveling and more matches, and quite a few players who played at the event this year are feeling the consequences of it, which opens up the topic of whether the event might be a problem.
Plenty of the players who played at the 2024 Laver Cup in Berlin stumbled in their first match since then. Fritz played at the Japan Open in Tokyo, where Arthur Fils was better than him, beating him 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Casper Ruud is another player who played in Berlin and lost early in Tokyo, as Jordan Thompson outplayed him 7-6(5), 6-1. Alejandro Tabilo also competed at the Laver Cup and played this week, and he was beaten by Holger Rune 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Frances Tiafoe is another player who played at the Laver Cup and lost in the first round in the subsequent tournament after Brandon Nakashima beat him 7-5, 6-3 at the Japan Open.
Another player who played in Berlin was Stefanos Tsitsipas, and he, too, lost in the first round of the same ATP 500 tournament. Alex Michelsen beat the Greek player 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, so clearly, all of these players struggled after playing at the Laver Cup.
Some players, like Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev, have yet to play, but overall, it seems that all the players who played at the Laver Cup struggled. Could it be connected, or was it just a coincidence?
As some have pointed out, the scheduling wasn't ideal, as the Laver Cup was held during the weekend before the start of the Asian swing. It's a significant part of the season, and most players take part in it.
This short turnaround from Berlin to a new continent and new time zones certainly isn't ideal, and this year's results prove it. It is certainly something that might need to be addressed in the future because the Asian swing isn't going anywhere, and neither is the Laver Cup.
0 Comments