Long-time rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are set come together once again for the third edition of the Laver Cup to be held in Geneva in September 2019.
The ‘Fedal” pair had played doubles together for Team Europe in the first edition of the event in 2017 with much success, however the Spaniard pulled out of the second edition with injury. Federer had played doubles with Novak Djokovic in 2018 but they ended up losing their only match.
But for the third edition, the original pair will come together as Team Europe look to continue their unbeaten record, it was announced on the official website. The top two players in the men’s Grand Slam charts have been named in the team by non-playing captain Bjorn Borg.
“It doesn’t get much better for a captain than naming both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for the Laver Cup in Geneva,” former world number one Borg said in a statement.
“Bringing together two of the greatest players, and rivals, the sport has ever seen together on one team is very exciting for our sport — and will give us the best possible chance to win the Laver Cup three years in a row,” he added.
Federer and Nadal were also excited by the prospect of coming together for the exhibition event started in 2017. That the duo had a lot of fun back in Prague was evident from their reactions during the three-day event, that took both the tennis world and social media by storm.
“I’m excited. Captain Bjorn has named both me and Rafa for Team Europe. We had a blast in Prague and it will be very special for me to team up with him again in Switzerland to try and defend our title,” Federer said of the event which will be held in his home country.
“I’m looking forward to playing the Laver Cup in Geneva… I will do my best to live up to the great performances we had in Prague last year,” Nadal added.
The 2019 edition of the high-flying event will take place on a black court inside Geneva’s 17,000-seat Palexpo venue.
The three-day tournament pits six of the top male tennis players from Europe, captained by Bjorn Borg, against six of their counterparts from the rest of the world, led by John McEnroe, and has sold out stadiums in Prague and Chicago to date.