On paper, Team Europe has never looked weaker at the Laver Cup than it has this year. This is largely in terms of players' placements in the ATP Ranking.

The Laver Cup will take place in Vancouver, Canada, from September 22-24, during which time Team Europe and Team World will face off against each other for the title. The 2022 edition, held in London, was Roger Federer's final tournament before retiring and his emotional farewell almost overshadowed the fact that Team World won the Cup 13-8.

This year, they will be hoping to defend their title and, on paper at least, it looks as though they should have confidence in their ability to do so.

It is the first year that Team Europe does not include either the World No. 1 or No. 2 in the ATP Ranking. The current top two in the world -Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Spain's Carlos Alcaraz - are both eligible to play for the team but do not have the tournament on their schedule for this year.

The players on the team are World No. 6 Andrey Rublev, No. 9 Casper Ruud, No. 16 Hubert Hurkacz, No. 25 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, as well as No. 44 Arthur Fils and No. 142 Gael Monfils.

Ruud and Hurkacz do not seem to be in top form at the moment as they were both eliminated in the second round of the US Open. Nevertheless, Rublev has seen some recent successes, reaching the quarter-finals at the New York major and lifting the trophy at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown.

This is also the first time that Team Europe has included a player ranked outside of the top 100. However, despite his low ranking, Monfils has ousted some of the highest-ranked players in recent months, defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alex de Minaur, and Cameron Norrie. Meanwhile, at just 19 years old, Fils is a talent on the rise.

Nevertheless, Team World has the higher average ranking and several of their players have looked to be on very strong form recently. The team consists of Ben Shelton, who just reached the semi-finals of the US Open, as well as Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe, who both reached the quarter-finals at the Slam. Tommy Paul also achieved an incredible feat in defeating Carlos Alcaraz at the Canadian Open in August.

However, Felix Auger-Aliassime has been struggling a lot as of late and Francisco Cerundolo has not won two matches in a row since July. Overall though, while there may be room for a surprise upset, Team World look set to take this one.