Issue Arising: Huge Controversy Casts Shadow Over Women’s Laver Cup as Swiatek, Sabalenka, Gauff, and Rybakina Line-Up Faces Uncertainty Due to…

The Laver Cup is a recent competition, held since 2017, which does not add points for the ranking and is only contested by men. The 2024 edition will take place in Berlin between next Friday 20 and Sunday 22 September. Therefore, it is a topical tournament, and in the following article we are going to imagine how the compositions could be if an identical one were made in the women’s circuit.

It is a duel between Europe and the rest of the world, it is played in 3 days with three singles matches and one doubles match. The scoring system is simple, in the first day the victories count 1 point, in the second day 2 and in the third day 3. We also have two substitutes and a captain, which in this case would be a captain. This is the person who is in charge of choosing who plays when.

We might think that it is enough to read the world rankings and take the top six players from each side to form the teams. But that would be too easy, we must also take into account the form and style of play, to adapt as well as possible to a format that also requires some show, in addition to the level of tennis.

Let’s start with Europe. The two top selections are made with eyes closed. They have been the best players on the planet for two seasons, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka would lead the team. The rest would be hotly contested but Jasmine Paolini, with her finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, as well as being a doubles specialist, Olympic champion with Sara Errani, deserves her place in this set.

Finally, there are too many options. We opt for two tennis players who have given what to talk about in this North American tour on hard court. Keep in mind that the Laver Cup is played on this surface and indoor. We are talking about Paula Badosa and Karolina Muchova, who have shone with their own light at the end of the summer.

Finally, we have decided to keep a star in the making who has a dazzling progression and can beat any woman on a court, Diana Shnaider, who also adapts without problems to the doubles and could form a fearsome pair with Paolini. For the substitutes position we have a myriad of names that deserve their place.

Barbora Krejcikova, Wimbledon champion, Marketa Vondrousova, Donna Vekic, Anna Kalinskaya, Daria Kasatkina, Mirra Andreeva, Jelena Ostapenko, Victoria Azarenka, Marta Kostyuk and Elina Svitolina, although it remains to be seen whether the Ukrainians would agree to share a locker room with Russians and Belarusians. In addition, the former world number 3 is injured and has ended her season, so she could not be there.

Finally, we have decided to choose one of the most reliable players of the last months, Vekic, and give the opportunity to be with the best in the world to a promising player like Andreeva, who was a semifinalist at Roland Garros. We are going to leave the captaincy issue to the end because we have decided to do something like they have done on the men’s side and it makes more sense to talk about both at the same time.

On the Team World side, the decisions are much more obvious. Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff, Qinwen Zheng and Emma Navarro should be assured of participation. To complete the ‘6’, the debate should not leave two tennis players, Danielle Collins and Beatriz Haddad Maia. We will stay with the American, who also retires at the end of the year.

Therefore, the Brazilian would be one of the two substitutes. For the second choice is where the doubts could start to arrive. From our point of view, it should not come out of Ons Jabeur, Madison Keys, Leylah Fernandez and Yulia Putintseva. The one that generates us more security and for which we finally decided is for the finalist of the US Open 2017.

Finally, in the men’s competition they chose two captains who have a common history: Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe. Therefore, how not to choose Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. It is the most repeated duel in the history of tennis, they were the greatest rivals on the court and now they are the best friends in the world. Although the former has been an American for longer than a European, she is Czech.