Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz, will make his Laver Cup debut with Team Europe in Berlin this September alongside the man he beat to capture his first major in Paris, Alexander Zverev.
Fittingly, Alcaraz was the first player since Rod Laver in 1962 to win his semifinal and final in five sets. At 21, he became the youngest man to claim a Grand Slam title on all three surfaces, following breakthrough victories at the US Open 2022 and Wimbledon 2023. Showing great respect for the game and those who have set astonishing records before him, Alcaraz watched his hero and kinsman Rafael Nadal play his first round on Court Philippe-Chatrier against Zverev.
The 22-Grand Slam champion and holder of 14 Roland-Garros men’s singles titles will also represent Team Europe in September, marking his fourth appearance at Laver Cup since the inaugural competition in Prague 2017.
And while he lost to Zverev in Paris, Nadal was pleased with his overall fitness and form against the German.
“I managed to play without limitations, I fought and I had real chances of taking the match to a completely different situation against one of the best players in the world,” said Nadal.
Also named on Team Europe’s six-man roster this year is Daniil Medvedev, who fell to Team World representative Alex de Minaur in the last 16 and later acknowledged how much the Aussie had improved, setting the stage for further intense Laver Cup battles at Uber Arena in September.
“We know that Alex can beat anyone,” observed Medvedev.
De Minaur became the first Australian in 20 years to reach the Roland-Garros quarterfinals and lifted his ranking to a career-high No.9. His run ended at the hands of Zverev in straight sets, who displayed the strongest form of any player throughout the clay-court swing, showing the same resolve that has secured crucial victories at Laver Cup for Team Europe.
De Minaur’s Laver Cup Berlin 2024 teammates, Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, continued career-best clay-court form in Paris. Fritz, the highest-ranked American at No.12, reached a maiden clay-court ATP final in Munich and was a semifinalist at the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome. He survived a third-round, five-set thriller in Paris against Thanasi Kokkinakis before Casper Ruud ended the newly dubbed ‘Claylor’s’ unprecedented run in the Round of 16.
Paul, also a Rome semifinalist, lost to Laver Cup Vancouver teammate Francisco Cerundolo in the third round, the Argentine later pushing defending champion Novak Djokovic to five sets in a four-hour, 39-minute Herculean battle.
Ruud, runner-up in 2022 and 2023 at Roland-Garros, received a free passage to the semis after top-seed Djokovic withdrew from the tournament with an injured knee. A stomach ailment ultimately derailed the Norwegian star against Zverev, who advanced to his first Roland-Garros final against Alcaraz.
Standing next to them to present the Coupe des Mousquetaires on this historic occasion was six-time Roland-Garros champion Bjorn Borg, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first major crown in 1974, aged 18. The trio will regroup in September for Borg’s last Laver Cup campaign as captain, Alcaraz’s first and Zverev’s fifth.
Team World Captain John McEnroe, striving to win his third-straight Laver Cup in his final year at the helm, was also honored in Paris with the French Legion of Honour, the highest French order of merit, military and civil. “You are a legend of world sport, one of the greatest of all time,” said President Emmanuel Macron, who presented the award at the Elysee Palace.
Borg and McEnroe have until the start of the US Open to complete their Laver Cup Berlin teams. There are two more places remaining for Team Europe and three on Team World’s roster.
2024 marks the final year the legendary rivals will go head-to-head as Laver Cup captains. When the Laver Cup travels to San Francisco in 2025, French tennis champion Yannick Noah will replace Borg and eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi will take over from McEnroe.