With the Laver Cup VIII officially in the books, some observations from the event …
• At the Chase Center in San Francisco, Team World won its third Laver Cup since 2022, recovering from a first-day deficit and defeating Team Europe, 15–9.
• If there were an MVP, it would be of the split variety. Taylor Fritz—the highest-ranked World player—beat No.1 Carlos Alcaraz 6–3, 6–2 on Saturday, playing about as well as he possibly could. He returned Sunday to beat No. 3 Alexander Zverev (again) to seal the victory. For a player who’s been lodged, stubbornly, in the top five all year, but reached no major finals, this was a real 2025 highlight.
• Then there’s Alex de Minaur, who was a late roster addition. Nice move, Captain Agassi. The Australian not only won a pair of singles matches, beating Zverev and Jakub Menšík, but also acquitted himself well in doubles, too.
• The first Team World point was won by Brazilian teen João Fonseca, who beat Flavio Cobolli. And Alex Michelsen revealed himself to be an excellent doubles player.
• Andre Agassi was not known as an especially demonstrative player. As captain, he was in as much motion—and showed as much emotion—as his players.
• Alcaraz went 3–1, collecting two doubles wins and beating Francisco Cerundolo handily. In between? A comprehensive (first-ever) loss to Fritz. Two weeks ago, Alcaraz won his second major of 2025. He is ranked No. 1. He is an effervescent, luminescent and phosphorescent player. Let’s not read too much into this one—an indoor, points-deprived defeat. But he’s human, and a straight-set loss confirms as much.
• It was a rough weekend for Zverev. The player with the most Laver Cup caps for his career, he was—how to put this charitably?—not at his best at this event. On a slow court that should, in theory, have played to his strengths, he lost the first five games of his opening match and never recovered, falling 6–1, 6–4 to de Minaur. On Sunday, with everything on the line, he lost to Fritz for the sixth consecutive time.
• One of the great stories-within-a-story is the contrast of rookie captains Yannick Noah and Agassi. Two ace human beings, but two utterly different modes of being. And—without dramatizing too much—both teams took on some of the characteristics of their leaders. Team Europe was far more relaxed and vibe-oriented, including a song they sang together. Team World was far more analytical, introspective and subdued.
• From Chase Center to Chase Sinner. A riddle has been presented to the Laver Cup: how to lure Jannik Sinner. He has never played in the event. And if this Cup is designed to be a no-brainer honor for players a la the Ryder Cup, you must attract the player who has won three of the past five majors. And yet, as long as the two biggest players—by far—would be on the same team, does this not hurt Laver Cup’s competitive balance?
• Here’s an idea: Maybe the Sinner-Alcaraz dominance is an opportunity to move off the “Europe/World” conceit. It’s always been a bit off, if not altogether artificial. (Literally, never, during the other 51 weeks of the year, does anyone make this distinction. Does Spanish-speaking, Brit-engaged, Swiss-watch-obsessed de Minaur really get pumped to beat Europe?) What if two captains drafted the rosters? Alcaraz, red; Sinner, blue; and on down the line. Would the captains depart from rankings? A post–U.S. Open trade? Alcaraz and Sinner get divided up, and the interactions become that much more interesting, too.
• The players’ motivation for participating in the Laver Cup does not come from the money. It’s not Europe vs. World pride. There are no ranking points. No, it’s reputational. It’s the drive/instinct/compulsion to perform well in such proximity to your rivalries and peers. But unlike a tournament, the people whose opinions you value most—who can most relate to what you’re doing—are watching every point in real time, right there courtside, the equivalent of looking over your shoulder at work. (Oh, and Roger Federer is in the stands, near John McEnroe and Rod Laver.) This is where the magic of the event resides.
• The Bay Area has been a rich tennis center for decades. A raft of players has come from Northern California. Stanford has been a tennis powerhouse for decades. Venus Williams won her first pro match in Oakland. Tad Taube, who passed away last week, was a legend. Laver, McEnroe, Billie Jean King, Venus Williams and Agassi won here. For years, there were multiple tournaments here. Now there are none. How great that this community got to witness the sport’s best.
• I wrote a bit last week about the Laver Cup incorporating women. The code is open-source. Who wouldn’t want a Chris Evert–Martina Navratilova Cup or a Williams Cup, celebrating the lineage of women’s champions?
• Fifty-one months since his final match at a major, Federer still has immense brand equity. But this was, I’m told, the first year that more than half the Laver Cup were not Federer sponsors.
• There was a lot of offline chatter and concern about two Americans who had committed and then withdrew. Just how serious is Ben Shelton’s shoulder injury? Just how serious is Frances Tiafoe’s psyche injury? (Tiafoe, I was told, headed to Japan early in part because of his Yonex deal.)
• There was also a lot of chatter about this “Fedal” tour. Per Federer, Rafael Nadal hasn’t played in months. But if those two wanted to play some events—rope in undercards; sell broadcast rights; maybe sell a documentary off it—imagine how that would go over.
• Bear in mind that the “World” sites are not restricted to the U.S. Don’t be surprised if the 2027 Laver Cup is held outside the Lower 48, perhaps even outside this hemisphere.
• Thanks to all of you who came to the Served podcast live shows. The guests were A+, and it was a pleasure to meet so many of you. If we take the energy, civility, and good vibes of this community and transport them to the universe, we’d all be doing O.K.
• On the eve of the Laver Cup Hall of Fame, the NorCal section held its Hall of Fame dinner. Congrats, Tom Ross, Matt Lucena, Doug King, Erika Smith and Heather Ludloff.
See you at next year’s Laver Cup in London.