After six previous editions, the seventh edition of the Laver Cup is here this week. It’s being played from September 20th – 22th, in Berlin, Germany.
One team is highly favored to win this one, as this year’s Laver Cup odds prove, but there is always more to the story, and we’re going to go over that. For a breakdown of how each team might perform, and our overall Laver Cup prediction, read on.
Laver Cup Teams 2024
The two opposing sides in the Laver Cup are made up of players from Europe (Team Europe), and the rest of the world (Team World). Here’s who will be representing each in 2024:
Team Europe
- Alexander Zverev (2)
- Carlos Alcaraz (3)
- Daniil Medvedev (5)
- Casper Ruud (9)
- Grigor Dimitrov (10)
- Stefanos Tsitsipas (12)
- Team Captain: Bjorn Borg
We have a packed roster on the European side, which isn’t a surprise since they are heavily motivated to get the trophy back to Europe. Carlos Alcaraz will be making his debut at the event this year, and he’ll be backed up by stellar players such as Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev.
Besides them, we’ll also see Casper Ruud and Laver Cup mainstay Stefanos Tsitsipas. Rafael Nadal was supposed to play at the event as well, but he withdrew and was replaced by Grigor Dimitrov. Team Europe is bringing two alternates as well, in Flavio Cobolli and Jan-Lennard Struff, in case one of these players drops out or gets injured.
Team Captain is Bjorn Borg for the final time, as he will be replaced by Yannick Noah next year.
Team World
- Taylor Fritz (7)
- Frances Tiafoe (16)
- Ben Shelton (17)
- Alejandro Tabilo (22)
- Francisco Cerundolo (31)
- Thanasi Kokkinakis (78)
- Team Captain: John McEnroe
On the Team World side, we’re getting a pretty interesting mix of players, though they’ve also had some late withdrawals. Those confirmed to play are Ben Shelton, who has been a breakout star for Team World in last year’s Laver Cup. Then we have Taylor Fritz, who just stood in the US Open final.
We also have Frances Tiafoe, who loves this competition due to its looser style of play, along with Alejandro Tabilo, Francisco Cerundolo, and Thanasi Kokkinakis. The squad was initially set to feature Alex de Minaur and Tommy Paul, but they had to drop out due to injuries.
Laver Cup 2024 Odds & Prediction
The way the teams are set up, it’s pretty clear that Team Europe is favored to win, and we’re going to back them to do so on their home soil in Berlin. Here are the latest Laver Cup 2024 odds from our top tennis betting sites:
- Team Europe to win – ODDS COMING SOON
- Team World to win – ODDS COMING SOON
While Team Europe is heavily favored to win, there are opportunities for Team World to score some points.
The doubles, in particular, will be crucial for Team World because they have by far the better doubles players. While there are players on the European side who can play doubles, like Zverev and Tsitsipas, Team World has stronger doubles specialists. Kokkinakis, for example, has a Grand Slam doubles title to his name, while Fritz picked up a bronze medal alongside Paul at the recent Olympics.
These doubles matches are worth six points in total, which is half of the total they need to win. If Team World can win those, they will only need a couple of singles wins as well. It’s certainly possible, but given that the event is in Berlin, Team Europe is likely to win overall. When we line up the singles matchups, there are only a few that Team World is expected to win.
As reflected in our final prediction below, we’re backing Team Europe to win comfortably because they should dominate the singles, especially on days two and three, where the matches are worth more points.
Our 2024 Laver Cup prediction: Team Europe to win 14-7
Laver Cup Format and Schedule in 2024
The format of this event is pretty simple. We have two teams – Team Europe and Team World, composed of players who are natives of Europe, and players who are from the rest of the world.
Each of the teams has a captain who selects the matchups each day. The event lasts for three days, with the first day awarding one point per match, the second day giving out two points per win, and the final day awarding three points.
The matchups generally get better as the days go on because more points are up for grabs.
Each day consists of three singles matches and one doubles match, with the first team to reach 13 points winning.
This year’s event begins on Friday, 20th of September, and runs for three days, finishing on Sunday, 22nd of September.
Read more: What is Laver Cup?
History of the Laver Cup
This year’s Laver Cup will be the seventh time we’ve had that event. It was first held in 2017, and since then, every year except 2020, which was the pandemic year. Here’s how the previous editions have unfolded:
- Prague, 2017: Team Europe wins 15-9
- Chicago, 2018: Team Europe wins 13-8
- Geneva, 2019: Team Europe wins 13-11
- Boston, 2021: Team Europe wins 14-1
- London, 2022: Team World wins 13-8
- Vancouver, 2023: Team World wins 13-2
The event came after an idea from Roger Federer, who wanted to see bitter rivals become teammates. It was a way for him to team up with the likes of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, celebrating tennis and giving the fans a chance to see something they had never seen before.
The first few years were dominated by Team Europe, which generally had better teams due to the players being higher ranked. The last two editions were won by Team World, as some of their players have stepped up, while the Big Three’s influence has waned.
Last year in particular was a proper beatdown, as Team Europe fielded a fairly weak roster overall and Team World took advantage to win 13-2.
Laver Cup Prize Money
There is plenty of incentive for players to compete because each player is guaranteed a participation fee depending on their ranking. The higher you’re ranked, the more money you’ll receive, but there are also other reasons to win.
The winning team gets a $250,000 payout per player, which is a significant amount of money for some of these players. Very few events offer payouts like this – usually it is based on individual performance.
Losing players still get paid as well, with each bagging $125,000 for their participation, regardless of the result.
Interesting Facts About the Laver Cup
The Laver Cup is the only event in history that has seen the Big Four competing on the same side. For the first time and only time, tennis fans got to witness Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray competing together, rather than against each other.
This happened in 2022 in London, and was Federer’s final competitive tennis match. He played doubles alongside Nadal, with the pair losing 4-6, 7-6 (2), 11-9 to Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe.
Interestingly, despite Team Europe’s stacked line up, they would lose for the first time, going down 13-8 to Team World.
