PREVIEW | ATP 2023 Laver Cup featuring Ruud, Rublev, Fritz, and Tiafoe

Wednesday, 20 September 2023 at 20:52

The 2023 Laver Cup will take place from September 22-24 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. Here is our preview of the team event containing some of the highest-ranked ATP players.

The Laver Cup will host six players for Team Europe and another six for Team World as they battle it out for the title across singles and doubles matches in a bid to reach 13 points.

Last year was full of emotion and drama, as Team World took the win 13-8 while Swiss player and tennis legend Roger Federer bid farewell to the sport. Now, the sixth edition of the tournament is about to get underway.

Ruud, Rublev, and Monfils on Team Europe

Team Europe will be captained by Swedish former tennis player Bjorn Borg, an eleven-time Grand Slam champion. On his team will be World No. 6 Andrey Rublev and World No. 9 Casper Ruud. The former has had a successful few weeks, reaching the quarter-finals of the US Open and winning the Ultimate Tennis Showdown.

However, Norway's Ruud has been struggling a bit as of late - the 2022 US Open runner-up was ousted from the New York major in the second round, which saw him drop four places in the ATP Ranking - so he will be hoping for some redemption here.

Also on Team Europe will be Frenchman Gael Monfils, Polish player Hubert Hurkacz, and Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas was also due to play at this tournament, but the Greek player was forced to withdraw due to injury and was replaced by 19-year-old rising talent Arthur Fils.

Fritz, Tiafoe, and Shelton on Team World

Meanwhile, Team World will be captained by American tennis legend John McEnroe. The team contains American duo World No. 8 Taylor Fritz and World No. 10 Frances Tiafoe, both of whom had strong runs to the quarter-finals of the recent US Open.

Ben Shelton is also on the team and will be hoping to extend his momentum from a hugely successful campaign at Flushing Meadows, where he reached the semi-finals and saw a meteoric rise to World No. 19 in the ATP Ranking as a result.

Tommy Paul will make the fourth American on the team, with Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime and Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo also participating. The alternates are Christopher Eubanks and Milos Raonic. Nick Kyrgios was also set to compete in Vancouver as part of the team but withdrew due to injury.