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Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic - Laver Cup 2022 and Carlos Alcaraz - US Open 2023

Roger Federer calls for Djokovic and Alcaraz after Team Europe ‘destroyed’ in Laver Cup


Roger Federer has called for the likes of Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz to join Team Europe next year, after they faced an emphatic defeat in the Laver Cup.

Federer co-founded the Laver Cup, the event where Team Europe take on Team World in an alternate host city every year, back in 2017.

Team Europe had won the first four editions of the exhibition tournament until last year, and Team World have now continued their redemption by winning 13-2 in Vancouver over the past weekend.

Federer was in attendance for the entire event and gave his verdict on how things played out when speaking to Eurosport, “They destroyed Team Europe. Team World played fantastic, they really brought the energy

“Everybody brought a point, they were stronger in the doubles. In the singles too, they were moving fast, they were ready to go. They thoroughly deserved victory.”

The event was decided on Sunday with a doubles victory for Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton over Hubert Hurkacz and Andrey Rublev, leaving Casper Ruud the only victor for the European side.

Next year, the Laver Cup will move back to Europe with Berlin hosting the event, and Federer revealed that he has higher hopes for the side that he played for on four previous occasions in 2024.

“We can speak German, very much looking forward to Berlin, a city I don’t know very well,” said Roger Federer. “I can’t wait to go there. I think it’s great to take tennis back to Germany. I think we’ll have much better energy as Team Europe.”

However, he has called for some higher profile names to join the ranks next year, “I would like to see Novak again, Alcaraz and Novak on the same team. Sascha Zverev would be great for the German market.

“Someone like [Holger] Rune, that really hurt Team Europe. Rune and [Stefanos] Tsitsipas pulling out. [Daniil] Medvedev would be great. I like watching [Andrey] Rublev, and maybe someone will come through.”

Nine out of the top ten ranked players in the current ATP rankings are European, with world No.8 American Taylor Fritz the only exception.

World No.1 Djokovic has made two previous appearances at the event, however Alcaraz is yet to make his debut.

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Matthew Johns, Tennishead Writer, is a professional tennis journalist with a specialist degree in Sports Journalism. He's a keen tennis player having represented his local club and University plus he's also a qualified tennis coach. Matthew has a deep knowledge of tennis especially the ATP Tour and thrives on breaking big tennis news stories for Tennishead.