Schedule / Preview Day One Laver Cup 2024 (Friday 20 September) as Team Europe v Team World begins

The 2024 Laver Cup is upon us so let’s break down the match-ups on Day One at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin as Team World v Team Europe begins.

A three-day competition which features four matches every day unless the winner is decided which makes the other matches not being played. That’s what happened last year when we didn’t get the 12 matches that were supposed to happen.

Each match carries a point value depending on the day. Day one matches are valued at one point, day two at two points and day three at three points. The first team that gets to 13 points wins. Each day we’ll have four matches in two sessions. Two singles matches are being played in the day session while a singles and a doubles are played in the night session. With that being said let’s see which matches we can expect on the first day of the event with our preview.

The first match of the day session will be played at 1 pm local time and it will be Casper Ruud against Francisco Cerundolo. Ruud is the nominal favourite simply because he’s the better ranked player and generally considered the better player.

It’s an indoor hard court though conditions can vary. Some of them over the years have been on the faster side while some have played slower. In general, it’s not been the quickest hard court so this shouldn’t be either. Indoors should technically favour Ruud more though it depends because he’s not that great indoors either. There is a reason this matchup is a day one match though it should be quite interesting. Cerundolo is a streaky player and won’t be without chances in this one though overall it is widely expected that Laver Cup veteran Casper Ruud should be able to win the match.

The second match of the day session will feature Stefanos Tsitsipas facing Thanasi Kokkinakis. Now this is a matchup that Team World could easily win because we’ve seen this matchup recently. They faced each other at the US Open and Kokkinakis was able to win that match in four sets. The Aussie was also in action recently in the Davis Cup so he should be quite in tune with the indoor conditions which we will see at this event as well. Tsitsipas hasn’t played since the US Open, skipping the Davis Cup due to some physical problems so there are a lot of question marks regarding his participation here at the event.

Him being included in the schedule clearly means that he’s fit to play but that doesn’t mean that his level will be good. He has generally struggled with his form lately and the confidence doesn’t seem to be there as well. Some private life turmoil happened as well so he’s not expected to do that well here. We’ll have to wait and see what happens but Kokkinakis has had a far better time on the courts lately. The Australian is enjoying a really good season and he’s been pretty solid indoors over the years.

A good serve and a good forehand is more than enough to get him over the hump though Tsitsipas has had really good performances indoors in the past as well. Should be pretty close and pretty interesting and we’ll see if Tsitsipas can get revenge for the US Open loss a couple of weeks ago.

The night session will begin at 7 pm local time and the first match is a singles match between Grigor Dimitrov and Alejandro Tabilo. Now this is another really interesting matchup between two players who could prove to be pivotal for their teams. Tabilo has had a tremendous year with some highlighting performances such as the win over Novak Djokovic in Rome. He’s generally more adapted to clay but having grown up in Canada makes indoor courts familiar territory for himself.

Dimitrov, of course, has been one of the best players this year. The Bulgarian is enjoying a second youth as he’s playing some of the best tennis he has ever played. He did well at the US Open but unfortunately injured himself in the match against Frances Tiafoe which prevented him from playing the way he wanted to. Even so, the Bulgarian could prove to be a really big key for Team Europe due to how well he’s played this year and he’s certainly going to be a huge favourite for this one. A good start for Team Europe would be crucial and considering that all of their singles players are technically favoured in their matchups, finishing the day with 3 or four wins would be a major thing for them.

The final match of the day is of course a doubles match and it’s a brilliant one. On the European side, we’ll have Alexander Zverev teaming up with Carlos Alcaraz. On the World side, we’ll have Taylor Fritz partnering Ben Shelton. This is a brilliant matchup on paper and fans will be excited to see how things might work out between them.

Shelton and Fritz are both solid doubles players but Zverev has played doubles for most of his life and Alcaraz recently had some good practice at the Olympics. Finishing the opening day with a win is a major boost for both teams so expect both teams to try and win this one. The crowd should be heavily backing Zverev as he’s the home player so that might prove a factor as well. It just reads like a doubles matchup where very small margins will decide the match and those are always very fun to watch.

That’s the first day of the Laver Cup which begins tomorrow, September 20th, so make sure to stick with us as we’ll have daily coverage of the event for you.

Casper Ruud (Europe) v Francisco Cerundolo (Team World)

Stefanos Tsitsipas (Europe) v Thanasi Kokkinakis (Team World)

Grigor Dimitrov (Europe) v Alejandro Tabilo (Team World)

Carlos Alcaraz/Alexander Zverev (Europe) v Taylor Fritz/Ben Shelton (Team World)