Tennis Top Four unite for Laver Cup in 'unique' moment

The so-called Men’s Tennis Big Four will unite for Team Europe for the first time at this year’s Laver Cup.

Key points:

• Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray have won 66 of the last 76 men’s singles grand slam titles
• European teams have won all four Laver Cup titles since the first was held in 2017
• This year’s tournament will be held at London’s O2 arena in September

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, who dominated men’s tennis for nearly two decades, will now look to help Team Europe maintain its dominance over Team World in this year’s men’s team event.

Europe captain Björn Borg, who is also an 11-time grand slam champion, said having all four stars in the game on the same team was a historic moment.

“I don’t think I could have imagined having four of these sporting icons on a team together,” he said.

“I know they, like me, appreciate the importance of this moment.”

Djokovic, the newest member of the group to commit to this year’s tournament – to be held at London’s O2 arena in September – said it was a unique opportunity.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have 42 grand slams between them.(Getty Images: Julian Finney/Laver Cup)

“[The Laver Cup] is the only competition where you can play in a team environment with people you normally play against,” he said in a statement.

“Joining Rafa, Roger and Andy, my three greatest rivals of all time, will be a truly unique moment in the history of our sport.”

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The dominance that Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Murray enjoy at the pinnacle of world tennis is unprecedented: the quartet have won 66 of the last 76 grand slam titles.

By beating Nick Kyrgios in this year’s final, Djokovic ensured that one of the top four has won every men’s Wimbledon title since 2003.

Amazingly, until February this year, one of the four was the world number one in a span of 18 years.

During its peak, the star quartet seemed unstoppable on the men’s tennis circuit, leaving other top players at a loss as to how to break their grip on the sport.

As a result, three of the four major titles were clean sweeps and ensured they continued to monopolize the world number one spot.

Nadal (22), Djokovic (21) and Federer (20) have all won at least 20 grand slam titles as the most dominant trio in the sport’s history.

Although Murray only claimed three majors, he also reached a further eight grand slam finals and became a two-time Olympic champion before assuming his career was over due to a persistent hip injury.

Andy Murray against Novak Djokovic in seven grand slam singles finals. He lost five of them.(Getty Images: Scott Barbour)

Murray, making his first Laver Cup appearance this year, has since returned to form on the tour, winning the European Open just 10 months after hip resurfacing surgery.

Murray’s injury woes and the declining results of Federer, then 37, led some to assume that their era was almost over at the 2019 Australian Open – only for Djokovic and Nadal to sweep 11 of their next 13 titles.

The Laver Cup, named in honor of Australian legend Rod Laver, has been held annually since 2017, although there will be no tournament in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Played on hard courts, the tournament pits six of Europe’s best players — captained by the Borg — against the rest of the world, captained by US legend John McEnroe.

The only Australian to take part, Kyrgios has represented Team World in each of the last four tournaments, one of only three players to appear in each tournament alongside John Isner and Alexander Zverev.

A European team has never been beaten in a tournament.

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