- Aryna Sabalenka Edges Elena Rybakina in Dramatic Australian Open Final
- Ricky’s preview and pick for the Australian Open final: Djokovic vs. Tsitsipas
- Djokovic, Tsitsipas set up showdown for No. 1 in Australian Open final
- David Nainkin to Serve as Interim Captain for U.S. Davis Cup Team’s Qualifying tie vs. Uzbekistan
- Stefanos Tsitsipas Tops Karen Khachanov For First Australian Open Final
- Australian Open Draws and Schedule for January 28, 2023
- Ricky’s preview and pick for the Australian Open semifinals: Djokovic vs. Paul
- Aryna Sabalenka Sets up Australian Open Final vs. Elena Rybakina
- Australian Open Draws and Schedule for January 27, 2023
- Aryna Sabalenka Stops Donna Vekic to Reach First Australian Open Semifinal
- Australian Open Draws and Schedule for January 26, 2023
- Djokovic takes swipe at De Minaur and other injury doubters
- Roger Federer is a Striking Force at Paris Fashion Week
- Ricky’s picks for Day 10 of the Australian Open: Djokovic vs. Rublev
- Rybakina Overwhelms Ostapenko for first Australian Open Semifinal
Laver Cup Tennis In Boston • First Day Preview
- Updated: September 23, 2021

Team Europe Putting in Bottom Three Players for Singles on Day 1 at Laver Cup
By Ricky Dimon
The 2021 Laver Cup will get underway in Boston on Friday, when Team Europe hopes to beat Team World for the fourth time in a row dating back to 2017.
Even though the Europeans are without the Big 3 of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal, they still have a team that the World cannot compete with on paper. But Team World–made up of Americans, Canadians, an Aussie, and an Argentine–hopes that home-court advantage in the United States is a factor.
It’s something the visitors are prepared for heading into the weekend.
“This is something that we are expecting,” Stefanos Tsitsipas assured. “We’re going to fight against it and try and prove ourselves with our game. At the end of the day, our tennis is what counts the most.”

“I think the stadium is going to be maybe against us a little bit,” said Alexander Zverev. “But we are who we are. We are six Top-10 players sitting here. A lot of us are in incredible form right now. We do know that we are the favorites. Everybody is looking forward to the challenge.”

“I
think it’s toughest when you’re not ready and everybody is against you,” added
U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev. “That’s when you’re going to have problems.
But we are all ready for it. We’re just going to try to win no matter what.”
Team Europe certainly isn’t going all out on Friday, when each of the four
matches is worth one point (they are worth two on Saturday and three on
Sunday). The Europeans’ singles lineup consists of Casper Ruud, Matteo
Berrettini, and Andrey Rublev–their bottom three players.
Ruud opens against Reilly Opelka, Berrettini faces Felix Auger-Aliassime, and
Rublev kicks off the night session against Diego Schwartzman.
The doubles match will pit Zverev and Berrettini against John Isner and Denis
Shapovalov.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.
Editors Note • ok. So where’s Bjorn Borg ? No ones saying much. But he isn’t in Boston yet ? We sure hope both teams went with Rocket Rod Laver to the World Famous Longwood Cricket club. Rod won many matches and tourneys there. The place is magnificent with Beautiful Grass courts.