Former world No.1 John McEnroe believes the ATP has ‘made a mistake’ in their approach to the inaugural Laver Cup.
On Sunday team Europe won the first ever edition of the event, which is named in honour of Rod Laver. In total 14 players took part, including five out of the world’s top 10. Held at the O2 Arena in Prague, more than 80,000 spectators turned up to watch the three-day event. The tournament took place during the same week as two other ATP Tour events in St. Petersburg and Moselle. Understandably drawing frustration from the ATP, but McEnroe believes the governing body is their own worst enemy.
“I think that the ATP made a mistake not realising that this thing was going to be a big thing in the beginning,” Sport360.com quoted McEnroe as saying.
“I tried to tell them that from the beginning and they’re trying to come up with some event on their own (World Team Cup), I’m not exactly even sure what it is, but the important thing is that you take a step back and realise ‘look, this is something that’s important and could be really good for tennis.”
With backing from organisations such as Roger Federer’s Team 8 management company and Tennis Australia, the Laver Cup could become an annual occurrence for years to come. The 2018 event has already been scheduled for Chicago between September 21st-23rd. Taking place during the same two ATP tournaments again.
“I’ve been around a lot of things, a lot of incredible Davis Cup scenarios, it’s hard to feel like you could top this,” McEnroe said about his experience of the event.
Tennis Australia chief Executive Craig Tiley recently told The New York Times that he understands why there may be some resentment from the ATP. Although he insisted that it is essential that tennis trial new projects. For the first time in the sports history the Laver Cup was played on a black court.
“This is just a journey for us, the building of a new brand and building something for the sport,” said Tiley. “We know it’s had its critics because there are other events this week, and we understand that. But I’ve always had the view tennis needs to do things that attract more audience, and are cool and a bit different.”
Federer supports Tiley’s comments with the hope that the Laver Cup could potentially have a lasting effect on the men’s tour. On Sunday the 36-year-old discussed his vision for the Laver Cup and how he wanted to pay tribute to the previous legends of the sport. He hopes that the experience will be one to inspire many in the future.
“I hope the players walk away from here hungry,” said Federer. “Hungry and falling more deeply in love with our sport because they’ve seen history. History is so important to me and I hope more players see it that way. If they didn’t already, I hope they take that away from this weekend. And I hope they take what they’ve learned from this team environment and become better players on the tour.”
There has been little word from the ATP concerning tennis’ newest event. Although a future partnership is one that can’t be ruled out with the backing of the tour’s biggest names.
