Tennis Rivals Turn To Teammates During Laver Cup

Americans Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton faced off in the U.S. Open’s quarterfinals in New York in early September. Then, just two weeks later, the pair was then hamming it up on the Vancouver waterfront in the days leading up to Laver Cup 2023.

Such is the design of the Europe vs. World Laver Cup construction, a team tennis event crafted by Roger Federer and Tony Godsick, Team8 president and CEO, now in its sixth iteration and landing in Canada for the first time. One of the goals of the event, Godsick says, is to turn rivals into teammates.

Not only does the team-style event give fans a unique perspective on the players—three doubles matches as part of the five-session competition gives that camaraderie an extra little push into the limelight—but the multi-day event brings six players, plus alternates, from each side together for everything from practices to photo shoots and team meetings to on-court encouragement from designated team benches.

As we’ve seen over the years, that presence of teammates on the court can quickly turn into a master class of coaching. And it happens off the court too.

“Looking at this group in practices, they have come along really well so far,” Thomas Enqvist, Team Europe vice captain, tells me. “I think we will see a lot of nice coaching.”

Ben Shelton, a first-time Laver Cup participant for Team World, knows that players plying their hand at giving tips and advice is part of the Laver Cup equation. And he’s excited to see his teammates take up the responsibility, citing Chris Eubanks, an alternate, as the most likely to excel at the player-coach role during the Laver Cup.

“He loves to talk and does a lot of commenting,” Shelton tells me of Eubanks. “He will really enjoy that role.”

Eubanks isn’t the only one Shelton is expecting to hear from, apart from coaching brothers John and Patrick McEnroe. “Another guy who is really confident in his coaching abilities is Taylor Fritz,” Shelton says. “I am looking forward to seeing what he has to say on the sidelines.”

For Team Europe, Enqvist believes that Gael Monfils could lead the coaching charge. “Gael Monfils is a very experienced player, very passionate,” Enqvist says. “I’m sure he’s going to do a good coaching job.”

The idea of rivals morphing into teammates was crafted to give the players an opportunity to learn not only from each other but also from legends in the game, whether Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Enqvist or the McEnroes. “What we all wanted,” Godsick says, “was to create an event that could celebrate the men’s game of all the generations.”

Federer says seeing the players have so much enjoyment during the event has been great. But there’s one thing he appreciates even more. “What’s been, for me really important, is that the players go away with loads of information in their backpacks,” he says, “and they can apply it in their day-to-day practices, their day-to-day life on a tennis court and think back to the Laver Cup that they learned something from the likes of John McEnroe or Bjorn Borg, or speaking to Rafa (Nadal) or me or Novak (Djokovic) or Laver.”

Whether in conversations away from the court in the team hotels, team dinners, during the other planned events or when the tennis was turned up in front of a packed-out arena, that’s become a mainstay of the Laver Cup.

“We’ve been having so much experience on our bench in the past it has been incredible,” Enqvist says. “I noticed they have been so generous with each other, sharing experiences with who they play against and tactics. I’m sure this group is going to be the same.”