Week 38 - Laver Cup - Team World versus Team Europe - Boston, USA (indoor hard)

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Week 38 - Laver Cup - Team World versus Team Europe - Boston, USA (indoor hard)

flamingowings · All-time great

Lots of backlash on LC this year with them blocking people on twitter (tickets and player related criticisms) and having Zverev on the team (due to allegations reported against him)

indiana · Tennis legend

Think I'll let the Laver Cup slide on by ...

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Its easy to dismiss it as not being serious and it may not be . But each year Ive gone in sceptical , watched some and then really enjoyed it. Tennis turns out to be competitive and high octane usually

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Its reported that the ITF and ATP are iin discussions again around merging the Davis Cup and ATP Cup. Frankly, it needs to be done and makes no sense as we have all commented on many times. Let's hope they reach some accommodation.

I will try and find the source, read it last night

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Thats right, it was Mike Dickson, usually reliable even if it is the Mail. Others reporting same story

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-10022745/Talks-underway-merge-Davis-Cup-new-ATP-Cup-competitions-unprofitable.html

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Europe win opening two as Ruud beats Opelka and Berrettini beats FAA in a 3 hour epic for 2 sets and an MTB. Good stuff

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Not sure if anyone following this but Europe will clearly win ( unlike the Ryder Cup, lol)

The tennis is competitive, yes an exhibition, but nonetheless worthwhile IMO . You dont need ranking points to have good tennis. The question is how to make it more competitive when Europe dominates
Tennis. And that is hard without splitting Europe up in some way. If World doesnt get more competitive this event will lose any credibility and I suspect many are doubters now.

For me theres a place for this in the tour , its fun and interesting, just needs to be closer !

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

You're clearly talking to yourself on this thread, Jon. Sorry, can't be arsed to take an interest myself.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Ok. Thanks

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

11-1 to Europe. More one sided than the Ryder Cup! At least it shows its not contrived to get a close finish!

Some decent tennis though and Ill certainly look to go to O2 next season.

dodrade · Futures qualifying

JonH comes home wrote:
Not sure if anyone following this but Europe will clearly win ( unlike the Ryder Cup, lol)

The tennis is competitive, yes an exhibition, but nonetheless worthwhile IMO . You dont need ranking points to have good tennis. The question is how to make it more competitive when Europe dominates
Tennis. And that is hard without splitting Europe up in some way. If World doesnt get more competitive this event will lose any credibility and I suspect many are doubters now.

For me theres a place for this in the tour , its fun and interesting, just needs to be closer !

How about splitting Europe into EU and non-EU teams? You could have Nadal, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Berrettini, Thiem and Monfils in the former, and Djokovic, Medvedev, Rublev, Ruud, Federer and Norrie in the latter.

-- Edited by dodrade on Thursday 21st of October 2021 10:16:03 AM

indiana · Tennis legend

dodrade wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Not sure if anyone following this but Europe will clearly win ( unlike the Ryder Cup, lol)

The tennis is competitive, yes an exhibition, but nonetheless worthwhile IMO . You dont need ranking points to have good tennis. The question is how to make it more competitive when Europe dominates
Tennis. And that is hard without splitting Europe up in some way. If World doesnt get more competitive this event will lose any credibility and I suspect many are doubters now.

For me theres a place for this in the tour , its fun and interesting, just needs to be closer !
How about splitting Europe into EU and non-EU teams? You could have Nadal, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Berrettini, Thiem and Monfils in the former, and Djokovic, Medvedev, Rublev, Rudd, Federer and Norrie in the latter.

Technically that does seem to currently give well matched teams. But non EU ( and to an extent probably EU too ) is like the Rest of the World a nebulous difficult to identify with team. You really need two well defined teams that folk feel they want to really root for on either side and the players really care. Ryder Cup yes. Laver Cup no.

Unfortunately in men's tennis Europe vs anything less than the Rest of the World is going to be so unbalanced for a long time going forward and of course for now the Rest of the World is liable to very much struggle too.