Tennis icon Roger Federer has revealed the doubles partnership that he would love to see feature for Team Europe at the sixth annual Laver Cup. Taking place at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada, the tournament is a highlight in the tennis calendar which sees a number of famous faces take to the hard court in a three-day spectacle.
This year’s event sees another star-studded lineup of players for both Team Europe and Team World. Names including Gael Monfils, Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton are among the top-seeded stars appearing this year.
The tournament involves all players featuring in a mixture of singles and doubles matches, usually involving some never-before-seen partnerships. And this year it’s Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkacz who are the unlikely pairing catching Federer’s attention.
The pair have faced each other before on four occasions, with two wins apiece, but could now play alongside each other much to Federer’s delight.
“I’m very happy and pumped up to be here,” Federer said ahead of the tournament. “It’s going to be short and sweet, three full days, action-packed.
“I get very excited about Laver Cup doubles, because there are usually teams that we haven’t seen in the past so I would like to maybe see Hurkacz and Rublev play together. On the World side, there’s tons of doubles teams with Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz. I just like superstar combinations.”
The tournament sees two former tennis icons captaining each team. This year Team Europe is being led by 11-time Grand Slam winner Bjon Borg, with seven-time Grand Slam winner John McEnroe leading Team World. And Federer is not ruling out becoming a captain in the near future.
“There’s something in me that’s Team Europe. I’m happy if World wins, don’t get me wrong — but somehow, I can feel it deep inside, I want Europe to win. I like being in the tennis sphere. Maybe one day, I’ll be the Captain of the team. There’s no plans as of now, but I think that could be quite nice.”
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Federer went on to reveal how he created the idea for the tournament alongisde his agent Tony Godsick at a previous Shanghai Masters. “We started discussing how I think it would be great to have the best players get together and also have a place where the former greats can reunite and have a role to play,” he said.
The 42-year-old added that the tournament, which started in 2017, holds a special place in his heart. The tennis icon played his last competitive match at the 2022 Laver Cup alongside Rafael Nadal, but lost in a tiebreak to Team World’s American doubles team Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock.
“For me, it’s personally completely exceeded expectations,” he added. “I never thought I was going to play in Geneva, [and] obviously also a little bit nostalgic for me to retire at The O2, where I did play a lot of my matches.”
The tournament runs from Friday until Sunday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada.
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