Laver Cup Teams/Winners: 1980-2016

[Vanilla Slice]

I'm loving the new Laver Cup and definitely am already looking forward to it being played every coming year. This got me to thinking ...

What if the Laver Cup started around 1980 with Borg and McEnroe and Connors? What would be the 6-man Europe/World teams for the years pre-2017?

And most importantly, which team would win each of these installments?

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Would the top pros even commit to it after the novelty of the first couple of years wore off? I don't think so

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[Vanilla Slice]

Would the top pros even commit to it after the novelty of the first couple of years wore off? I don't think so

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Yes, I agree that over time it would slowly lose its novelty, maybe waxing and waning with the Davis Cup as the years go by.

However, this is purely hypothetical and just meant to explore a possibly Laver Cup had it been started decades ago and, if the top players all played, which team would win each year.

 

[big ted]

Would the top pros even commit to it after the novelty of the first couple of years wore off? I don't think so

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I think they would if they paid them enough.. I remember most of the top players playing the exo AT&T challenge in Atlanta during thanksgiving, stakes matches in FL, and the grand slam cup (90s)..

 

[Rafa.the.Magnificent]

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[Steve0904]

I'll just make a few general observations first.

Obviously, Europe would very likely dominate this event between 2004-2016. 2004 and 2005 in particular would consist mostly of Federer beating Hewitt, Roddick, and Agassi. Nadal was still a bit inexperienced then, but he'd always be a tough ask for any opponent at the same time. You might be able to match him against Nalbandian, Coria or Gaudio on an indoor HC and see how it turned out. After that I'd hedge my bets with any combination of the Big 4 over anybody from the rest of the world.

But the World team would likely dominate the 90's, again for obvious reasons. Sampras, Agassi, Chang, Courier being an integral part of the World Team.

As far as actual rosters year by year go, I'll start with 2004 as an example.

2004 Euro team: Federer, Safin (since he's from Moscow which is in the European part of Russia, but I've never been great with geography mind you), Henman, Moya, Grosjean, Ferrero.

2004 World Team: Hewitt, Roddick, Agassi, Nalbandian, F. Gonzalez, and let's say Coria (leaving out Gaudio on indoor HC).

By 2005 Davydenko should be on Team Europe (due to also representing Russia and residing in Moscow).

As you can see, the world team has some nice depth for the early-mid 2000's, but it's probably cancelled out by the fact that one or both of Federer and Nadal are favourites in most matches.

 

[sbengte]

I'm loving the new Laver Cup and definitely am already looking forward to it being played every coming year. This got me to thinking ...

What if the Laver Cup started around 1980 with Borg and McEnroe and Connors? What would be the 6-man Europe/World teams for the years pre-2017?

And most importantly, which team would win each of these installments?

Would it always be Europe vs world ?

Even a few years ago, it could have been 4 way with

Americas (USA,Raonic, Delpo)
Australasia (Nishikori, Kyrgios, Tomic, Kokk)
Spain ( they had enough players in the top 20)
Rest of Europe (Fed, Djokovic, Stan, Berd, Dimitrov)

 

[Vanilla Slice]

Would it always be Europe vs world ?

Even a few years ago, it could have been 4 way with

Americas (USA,Raonic, Delpo)
Australasia (Nishikori, Kyrgios, Tomic, Kokk)
Spain ( they had enough players in the top 20)
Rest of Europe (Fed, Djokovic, Stan, Berd, Dimitrov)

You're right! Even looking back as far as the 90s, it really could have been USA vs World, with the USA dominating the competition until the early 2000s with Sampras, Chang, Courier, Roddick, Agassi, etc.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

I think it should permanently be Europe v North America. That would have worked in most decades:

80's (not all playing at once in some cases but would be the mainstays of the team):
Europe: Willander, Lendl, Becker, Borg, Edberg, Kriek
NA: McEnroe, Connors, Chang, Courier

90's
Europe: Edberg, Becker, Kafelnikov, Bruguera, Moya, Muster
NA: Sampras, Agassi, Chang, Courier

2000's
Europe: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Safin,
NA: Sampras, Agassi, Roddick, Isner

2010's
Europe: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka, Cilic
NA: Raonic, Isner, Querry, Sock, El Shapo

The North American team would have been weak through the 2000's and early to mid 2010's but are probably well placed with Canada possibly leadning them back once the big 4 move on.

The only players of some note that would have missed out on playing Laver Cup had the North American team was a World team during the above time period that I can think of are:

Cash, Gomez, Rafter, Hewitt, Kuertin, Gaudio, Nalbandian & Del Potro that is only 8 players since the 80's - even allowing for a couple that I may have forgotten, let's say 10 or 11 players missed out means that the very best of the tennis world is Europe v North America so the Laver Cup may as well just play those two and not allow the 'World Team' to become invincible when the balance of power swings back to North America and then have their team topped up with the world's best outside of Europe also.