Roger Federer, Nadal to team up in Laver Cup

TIL Desk Sports/ Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will play doubles together in a new competition pitting Europe against the Rest of the World in a Ryder Cup-style tennis team event. The Laver Cup was launched in New York on Wednesday with Federer and Nadal, who have won 31 Grand Slam titles between them, both committed to the event which will be held for the first time in Prague from September 22-24 next year.

Former Grand Slam heavyweights Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe will be the captains. Organisers of the tournament, named after Rod Laver, the last man to achieve the calendar Grand Slam in 1969, are hopeful that the current top two in the world — Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray — will also be persuaded to play. The new tournament would likely be played just a week after the Davis Cup semi-finals.

“It’s going to be unbelievable to be on the same side of the net as Rafa finally. It’s a great feeling not facing the big forehand,” said 35-year-old Federer, who attended the launch despite injury ruling him out of the US Open which starts in New York on Monday.