Roger Federer eyes future captaincy for Europe at Laver Cup

VANCOUVER – Retired tennis legend Roger Federer, who helped Europe win three Laver Cups, hinted he might one day want to take on the captaincy at the team event.

The 42-year-old Swiss star will be the subject of a tribute on Friday at Rogers Arena to celebrate the first anniversary of his final match in doubles alongside Rafael Nadal at the 2022 Laver Cup in London.

The World Team, with John McEnroe as captain, will try to retain the trophy they first captured in 2022 when the sixth Laver Cup begins on Friday at Rogers Arena.

“There’s something in me that’s Team Europe,” Federer said.

“I’m happy if World wins, don’t get me wrong, but somehow, I can feel it deep inside – I want Europe to win. I like being in the tennis sphere. Maybe one day, I’ll be the captain of the team. There’s no plans as of now, but that could be quite nice.”

Bjorn Borg serves as Team Europe captain as a new generation of talent replaces Federer, Nadal and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.

“Seeing the camaraderie, people from different countries coming together in a team, like me and Rafa or me and Novak, has been wonderful,” Federer said.

“Seeing the fun and the joy that Borg and McEnroe have brought to the teams but also how much they enjoy their roles has been great.”

Seeing rare doubles duos is a big part of the event for Federer.

“I get very excited about Laver Cup doubles, because there are usually teams that we haven’t seen. I just like superstar combinations,” he said.

An American-dominated line-up will defend the trophy for the World squad.

Americans Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime return from last year’s global squad, which rallied to beat Europe in London after losing the first four editions of the indoor hard-court event.

“Winning last year meant a lot to us, even more so because we lost so many times,” Tiafoe said.

Eighth-ranked Fritz, world No. 11 Tiafoe and 14th-ranked Auger-Aliassime are joined by Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo, Ben Shelton, the youngest on the team at 20, and fellow American Tommy Paul, the oldest of captain John McEnroe’s players at 26.

Team Europe’s highest-ranked players were Denmark’s fourth-rated Holger Rune and Greece’s fifth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas but both withdrew from Borg’s side due to injuries.

That leaves sixth-ranked Andrey Rublev and Norway’s ninth-ranked Casper Ruud as the veterans of a Europe squad that also includes Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, French youngster Arthur Fils, veteran Gael Monfils and Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Meanwhile, former US Open champion Emma Raducanu said it was difficult to watch this year’s Grand Slams from the sidelines following wrist and ankle surgery, but the 20-year-old is targeting a comeback next season after dropping out of the world’s top 200.

Raducanu, who won her maiden Grand Slam title in New York as an 18-year-old qualifier in 2021, has not played since April, missing the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open and falling to No. 214 in the rankings.

The Briton said she had started practising in August after surgery on both wrists and her ankle.

“Next season, I’ll be back. This season all the Slams were finished, so it was difficult to watch them go by, but I was trying to stay in my lane as much as possible and keep focused on my recovery,” she told the BBC.

On the court, top seed Ons Jabeur was sent crashing out of the WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open on Wednesday, losing a gruelling three-hour battle to Italy’s Martina Trevisan.

Tunisian star Jabeur, the losing finalist at Wimbledon for the past two years, was downed 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-3 by the unseeded Trevisan, ranked 54th in the world.

Trevisan will face unseeded American Caroline Dolehide in the quarter-finals. Dolehide advanced with a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Russian eighth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

In other matches on Wednesday, Sofia Kenin’s impressive return to form continued as the unseeded American upset sixth seed 6-4, 7-5 Jelena Ostapenko to reach the last eight. AFP, REUTERS