Cilic, Tiafoe to open Laver Cup

Marin Cilic and Frances Tiafoe will open proceedings at the inaugural Laver Cup. Surrounded by plenty of pomp and fanfare, captains Bjorn Borg (Team Europe) and John McEnroe (Team World) made their selections for the opening day of action in Prague.

Laver Cup – Day Session
Marin Cilic (Europe) v Frances Tiafoe (World)
Dominic Thiem (Europe) v John Isner (World)

Laver Cup – Night Session
Alexander Zverev (Europe) v Denis Shapovalov (World)
Berdych & Nadal (Europe) v Kyrgios & Sock (World)

Borg and McEnroe were kept in the dark about one another’s plans, only finding out during the draw ceremony on the Laver Cup court. Friday’s matches are worth one point per win, with Saturday’s worth two and Sunday’s worth three.

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Cilic and Tiafoe will be facing one another for the first time in the day session, while Thiem and Isner are tied at 1-1 in their head-to-head (Isner won their last meeting in 2015).

In the night session, Denis Shapovalov said “I’m ready to get some revenge on this guy,” after being drawn against Alexander Zverev. Two of the most exciting young players on Tour, Zverev won their only meeting in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup last month.

In the day’s final match, Rafael Nadal will be teaming up with Tomas Berdych for the first time in their doubles match against Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock. The Team World pairing may have the advantage in the doubles – the pair are good friends and have played doubles together at ATP level.

Roger Federer, meanwhile, will be enjoying the opening day of competition from the team bench. “Friday looks really amazing,” Fed said. “I can’t wait to start on Saturday as well, but tomorrow I’ll be the big supporter.”

The Laver Cup starts on Friday at 1pm CET. You can find out more information about the competition on lavercup.com.