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Europe team ready to take on world side in Laver Cup as tennis prepares for its Ryder Cup

John McEnroe (left to right), Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg talk to the media ahead of the inaugural edition of the Laver Cup - Getty Images Europe
John McEnroe (left to right), Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg talk to the media ahead of the inaugural edition of the Laver Cup - Getty Images Europe

The spotlights beamed down on a black tennis court in Prague on Thursday, picking out five tennis legends from very different eras.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal sported blue tracksuits, as did Bjorn Borg, the non-playing captain of the European team. John McEnroe, boss of the World team, wore red. Alongside them, in a blazer and comfortable sneakers, stood Rod Laver – the man whose name adorns the whole enterprise.

Ostensibly, the Laver Cup, which begins on Friday with a programme of four matches, is meant to celebrate Laver’s achievements, while earning him a small fraction of the riches he would have collected in the modern era. But an event on this scale, which is being marketed as the racket-wielders’s answer to the Ryder Cup, cannot just pop up amidst the crowded tennis schedule without making a few enemies.

The idea began with Federer himself, his agent Tony Godsick, and their management company Team8. It was then supported by Tennis Australia, who unveiled the project in January 2016 without informing such major players as the All England Club committee or the ATP tour. (That didn’t go down too well.) For financial backing, the organisers turned to a Brazilian billionaire, Jorge Paulo Lemann, who won five national tennis titles in his youth.

Even before the first balls are hit, the Laver Cup has certainly been creating waves. And the body that should be most concerned is the weak and dysfunctional International Tennis Federation. Because it is the precipitous decline of the Davis Cup – a tournament which is run, in the loosest sense, by the ITF – that has emboldened all manner of entrepreneurs.

Federer, Nadal and co. receive red-carpet treatment ahead of Laver Cup
Federer, Nadal and co. receive red-carpet treatment ahead of Laver Cup

If the leading players don’t want to appear in the Davis Cup, the thinking goes, then why can’t be enticed to participate in something else? The Laver Cup is one alternative. The World Team Cup, which will have the advantage of ranking points, could soon be another. Now under development by the ATP, that latest newcomer is expected to slot into the schedule in January 2019.

“I think we are all excited and hopeful that this [the Laver Cup] is going to be successful,” said McEnroe, “and force some people to take a good, hard look at the rest of the schedule.

“You know that I have had a lot of history with Davis Cup.” In fact, he holds the record for most appearances by an American. “But I believe that the Davis Cup has been very slow in doing anything different. It is such a big commitment that they need to make some changes. And so maybe this will push it along.”

So much for the politics. What of the sport itself? The players were keen to emphasise on Thursday that they are not treating this weekend as an exhibition, but as something more intense and visceral. “I wake up today since 4am to practise,” said Nadal. “I don’t practise before an exhibition match normally.”

 It is also notable that the teams are staying in separate hotels. “We are very much in our own team,” said Federer. “We are friendly, because that’s how we are, but that’s for now. On the weekend I think it’s going to be different.”

 There is no prize money at stake – the six-figure appearance sums for the leading names are not conditional on their results – so the only incentives will be peer pressure and the honour of representing your continent, or multiple continents, in the case of a World team which combines four Americans with one Australian (Nick Kyrgios) and one Canadian (Denis Shapovalov).

Wimbledon's top 50 male players in the Open Era
Wimbledon's top 50 male players in the Open Era

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Of course there are absentees. Five of the 15 highest-ranked players of the moment are off the tour for one reason or another, including Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic. But there is a sense of anticipation among those who are here. “We’re definitely the underdogs,” said Kyrgios, “so to cause an upset would be pretty cool.”

 There is also a touch of gimmickry at play. Borg and McEnroe held iPads on Thursday during a brief appearance in front of the cameras, using their fingertips to make electronic selections for Friday’s encounters.

Given Borg’s distaste for technology – this is the man who made a 1990s comeback with a 1970s-style wooden racket – one wondered how he would cope.

But the signal went through and the first match flashed up on the screens: Marin Cilic v Frances Tiafoe.

Not the most eye-catching of pipe-openers perhaps. But the evening doubles match – which pits Nadal and local hero Tomas Berdych against Kyrgios and Jack Sock – has an appealing look to it. And there’s no sense in rushing to judgment. Remember, it took the Ryder Cup a good half-century to grow into the behemoth we know today.