'Roger Federer lives in Geneva, 2019 Laver Cup will be special' - Rod Laver
The Australian legend Rod Laver looks forward to attending the Laver Cup in Geneva from 20 to 22 September 2019. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the first two players confirmed for the event and many more will be added in the next months. "I didn't play too much in Switzerland, but I think Geneva has got -- I think the third leg is exciting, I think, because of the Rolex sponsorship. It is I think a great time for Switzerland. And of course, Roger represents the same company and lives there", said Laver during a conference call at the Australian Open.
He also praised Federer's role in founding the event: "I know that Roger Federer is really the inspiration for this event. He felt that Open Tennis has been here for 50 years, but before that, there was a whole lot of amateur champions that are going to get -- he didn't want to see that get lost in the shuffle. Roger is a historian, and I think he felt that my name was big enough to be able to represent all the past champions."
Laver also commented on what makes the Laver Cup unique: "I think it's probably the camaraderie with the players is the first thing, seeing how they were allowed to be on court or next to the court when the players were out there competing. They were cheering on their partners, you know, whether it's Europe versus the rest of the world. So seeing that, I think, is a great feeling for tennis and young players coming up through the ranks. But I think, yeah, the matches were -- you know, there is a little bit of a different format, you know, just playing -- if it's a set all, you play a tiebreaker for the third set, but that allows more matches to be played and not long, drawn-out matches. Because it's not an event where there are a lot of long matches or matches that had to be won. Some of those players, if they're used to playing matches that are long and battles, these are sharper matches. If it's a set all, you play a tiebreaker for the third set. But the nice feeling is that you know, to make sure the third day is represented by players. The first day you get one point; second day, two points; the third day you get three points. So the third day becomes the most important day. I think that's one of the things that, you know, the Laver Cup has provided is that challenge."
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from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2CU3XQg
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