Former Swiss tennis player Roger Federer admitted that he was “very excited” to see Carlos Alcaraz play “for the first time” at the Laver Cup, a tournament he promotes.
The former world number one recalled an anecdote with the Spaniard: “I only practiced with him once, at Wimbledon, when I was still a junior, and then, the next day, my coach said to me: “Do you want to warm up with him again?” and I said: “No, it’s okay, I prefer to warm up with his coach, who was from my generation, Juan Carlos Ferrero. I can apologize to Carlos this week,” he said, laughing.
Asked about the tournament that pits the best Europeans against those from the rest of the world, Federer admitted that “there was a lot of uncertainty at the beginning (when the tournament started) seven years ago.”
“Was everything going to go as planned? Were people going to come? Did they like the product? Were the players going to come? Being a player myself and also an organiser and trying to come up with a concept, it was quite a journey,” the Swiss recalled.
For the former world number one, this tournament is “like a brotherhood coming together, paying homage to the past generation, bringing in the new generation and then transforming it into the Ryder Cup style and creating a concept that works throughout the weekend.”
He took time to thank the legendary tennis players Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, who have served as captains of the two teams since the creation of the Laver Cup in 2017, given that this will be the last edition in which they assume that position: “They were there when we needed them most to start something special,” he said.
Regarding the future of the event, Federer said that new destinations could be considered for 2027: “I think we have to go to Asia, South America, keep moving forward, not just North America,” said the Swiss.
Speaking about the 2024 edition in Berlin, which is set to begin this Friday, the Swiss player predicted victory for the European stars.
“In the singles matches we are big favourites, although I know that the World Team has great players who are at their best and playing very well. I still think that most of the singles matches will be for the European Team and then in the doubles, I think that most of them will be for the World Team,” he concluded.
Participants
Team Europe: Alexander Zverev (Germany), Carlos Alcaraz (Spain), Daniil Medvedev (Russia), Casper Ruud (Norway), Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece).
Flavio Cobolli (Italy) and Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany) will alternate.
World Team: Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton (USA), Alejandro Tabilo (Chile), Francisco Cerúndolo (Argentina) and Thanasi Kokkinakis (Australia). This team will not have alternates.— EFE
2024-09-19 02:01:31