Laver Cup was long overdue for the sake of tennis fans

[clayqueen]

Laver Cup organisers want to shake tennis out of its old ways
Simon Briggs, tennis correspondent

25 SEPTEMBER 2017 • 4:56PM



As the players dispersed after the inaugural Laver Cup in Prague, the event’s creator told Telegraph Sport that he hopes to bump tennis out of its comfortable old routines.

Roger Federer has been the marketable face of the Laver Cup since we originally heard about it, in January last year. But his agent, Tony Godsick, is the man who pulled the whole thing together in such memorable style. Rafael Nadal is not a man given to exaggeration, but after playing alongside Federer in a doubles match for the first time, he called the weekend “unforgettable”.

Speaking on Sunday night, Godsick said “This was a big leap we took. We think this event is going to help the sport of tennis innovate. We pushed the envelope a little bit and I think that was important. I think the sport has stayed in the same position for a long time.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2017/09/25/laver-cup-organisers-want-shake-tennis-old-ways/

 

[TennisaGoGo]

Mr. Godsick is correct. Davis Cup has become little more than a guilt-trip obligation older tennis players place on newer ones. It's over. Laver Cup was behind only Wimbledon, AO and USO for exciting tennis.

That said, here are the LC changes I'd like to see.

Expand the competition to four regions. 1. North America. 2. South America. 3. Africa and Australia. 4. Europe and Asia. Europe vs world was really just a Fedal vs Everyone on Earth gimmick. It's unsustainable.

Have a final four semi-final then final. 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. Everything takes place one weekend Thursday - Sunday. Seeds can be determined by cumulative ATP raking points of the roster.

Have it every two years. Every year and the novelty wears off.

 

[sureshs]

We badly needed one more thread on Laver Cup

 

[Maestroesque]

We badly needed one more thread on Laver Cup

Yeah...and you should’ve made it

 

[tacou]

Spot on. Tennis, like most sports, seems to resist change until it is forced. i.e., DC has been decreasing in significance, in part because of the rise of Olympic tennis, but instead of addressing DC or integrating it more with Olympic play, ATP/ITF/everyone elsd does nothing.

Then a new tournament comes along, and they say it is going to hurt DC. No, YOU hurt DC through years of inaction and stagnation.

LC was the rare blend of unique, classic, entertainment, and competition. If they recapture that next year, forget it, they are off to the races.

 

[tacou]

Mr. Godsick is correct. Davis Cup has become little more than a guilt-trip obligation older tennis players place on newer ones. It's over. Laver Cup was behind only Wimbledon, AO and USO for exciting tennis.

That said, here are the LC changes I'd like to see.

Expand the competition to four regions. 1. North America. 2. South America. 3. Africa and Australia. 4. Europe and Asia. Europe vs world was really just a Fedal vs Everyone on Earth gimmick. It's unsustainable.

Have a final four semi-final then final. 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. Everything takes place one weekend Thursday - Sunday. Seeds can be determined by cumulative ATP raking points of the roster.

Have it every two years. Every year and the novelty wears off.

ughh I both agree and disagree with all of this. I like the idea of broadening the field, but also thought the 1 v 1 aspect created so much of the drama/camarederie. Get too many teams/regions and we have a DC clone. Similarly, you get SFs and runner up ties etc., and you lose a lot of the LC energy which was simply two teams, 12 matches.

I too think Europe v World is untenable, but again, creating more regions will only strengthen Europe, not make things more competitive, and will prevent the cool Fed/Nadal, Kyrgios/Sock pairings that made LC such a special event.

So yes. The event must change if it is to grow. I am just super indecisive as to how!

 

[clayqueen]

The trouble the ITF has with DC now is they cannot threaten the top 4 with deselection for the Olympics for not participating because I doubt any of them would be bothered about the OG IN 2020. They might be past it.

 

[tennisaddict]

Spot on. Tennis, like most sports, seems to resist change until it is forced. i.e., DC has been decreasing in significance, in part because of the rise of Olympic tennis, but instead of addressing DC or integrating it more with Olympic play, ATP/ITF/everyone elsd does nothing.

Then a new tournament comes along, and they say it is going to hurt DC. No, YOU hurt DC through years of inaction and stagnation.

LC was the rare blend of unique, classic, entertainment, and competition. If they recapture that next year, forget it, they are off to the races.

Exactly, also helps players from countries where there is no good second player and chances of winning a team event are next to zero

E.g. Nishikori

 

[Bobby Jr]

ughh I both agree and disagree with all of this. I like the idea of broadening the field, but also thought the 1 v 1 aspect created so much of the drama/camarederie. Get too many teams/regions and we have a DC clone. Similarly, you get SFs and runner up ties etc., and you lose a lot of the LC energy which was simply two teams, 12 matches.

So yes. The event must change if it is to grow. I am just super indecisive as to how!

Yeah. They should consider some changes but splitting the thing into more regions would remove much of what made it special.

I think they could consider ideas along the lines of:
- each team having to field a player who is over 40 and hasn't played a tour match for at least 5 years.
- allowing teams to field a doubles specialist, someone who has played more doubles matches than singles in each of the last 3 years (but making those doubles specialists play each other in singles on day 1)
- making the wild-card players' have a top age-limit (21?) and make a match mandatory on day 2 so it has some importance (which in-turn would force teams to be extra tactical about who they play on day one).
- combination male/female teams so there's doubles and mixed.

There are lots of ways to alter the team make-up without it being too gimmicky imo.

I don't think increasing the number of matches would work - that would just drag it out too much. 4 per day for 3 days is a good number.