New Delhi: The reigning Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic announced that he would play for Team Europe in the upcoming Laver Cup in London. As Djokovic joins Team Europe, fans will witness the ‘big 4’, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novac Djokovic, playing together.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic will join Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray in a dream Team Europe lineup at Laver Cup London 2022.
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Djokovic will be returning to the tournament after 2018. In Laver Cup 2018, Chicago, he played for Europe along with tennis star Roger Federer. As he made the announcement, he also shared his excitement to play for Team Europe at London’s O2 Arena. He said, “It’s the only competition where you can play in a team environment with guys that you’re normally competing against and to be joining Rafa, Roger and Andy, three of my biggest all-time rivals, it’s going to be a truly unique moment in the history of our sport.”
Swedish star player and former world number 1, Bjorn Borg, who is also the captain of Team Europe said that he could not have imagined these four tennis stars in one team. He added that like every year, the team’s goal is to win and they have higher chances as they have the ‘big 4’ in their team.
Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray have won 66 of the last 76 Grand Slam singles titles with Nadal winning 22, Djokovic 21, Federer 20 and Murray winning 3 titles. Their greatness can be known from the fact that the number one rank from February 2004-February 2022 has been held by someone out of these four players. It was in February 2022 when Daniil Medvedev became the world’s number 1 tennis player. in the ATP rankings.
On the other hand, Team World so far consists of Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, America’s Taylor Fritz and Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman. Team World will be captained by American tennis star John McEnroe.
The tournament is played on a black court in honour of Australian tennis legend Rod Laver. It is a three-day team competition that pits six players on each side in matches between Europe and the rest of the World. So far, team Europe has won all the Lavers Cup events, winning in Prague 2017, Chicago 2018, Geneva 2019 and Boston 2021. The tournament will be played from 23 to 25 September 2022.
