The Laver Cup pits Team Europe vs Team World as some of the biggest players in the sport collide, but a reserve player is bizarrely ranked higher than four of the core players in the tournament.
Carlos Alcaraz’s Team Europe are favourite for the Laver Cup against a Team World led by World No. 5 Taylor Fritz.
However, Team World have been dubbed ‘dangerous’ by pundits as they look to cause an upset on home soil.
Such is the strength of Team Europe this year that their reserve player is ranked higher in the ATP Tour than four of the players in the Laver Cup.
Laver Cup alternate Tomas Machac is ranked higher than four players in the tournament
Tomas Machac is the alternate for Team Europe in 2025, meaning he will not play unless anyone on the team is injured.
The Czech star is currently ranked World No. 22, a higher ranking than Team World’s Flavio Cobolli, as well as Alex Michelsen, Reilly Opelka, and Joao Fonseca on Team World.
To rub salt into the wounds, Machac has a better head-to-head record than any of the players he’s ranked below too.
If Machac does not play the tournament, which is highly likely, he will be the highest ranked alternate to miss out since Roberto Bautista Agut did the same in 2019 when he was ranked World No. 10.
An alternate has not played at the Laver Cup since 2022, when Cameron Norrie and Matteo Berrettini replaced Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
The Czech star can count himself sorely unlucky to miss out on the main draw of the tournament at this year’s Laver Cup.
Who has the better record in the Laver Cup?
The Laver Cup was formed in 2017 by Federer as a Ryder Cup-style tournament between Europe and the rest of the world.
Since 2017, there have been seven iterations of the tournament and it’s largely been dominated by Europe.
Team Europe won the first four tournaments as the likes of Andy Murray, Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Nadal dominated the competition.
Team World forged a comeback in 2022 and 2023 by winning back-to-back tournaments, but Team Europe stopped the rot with a win in Berlin in 2024.
The European side, led by Carlos Alcaraz, are the overwhelming favourite to pick up the trophy again in San Francisco.
