One hasn’t played for a year. The other is recovering from an injury that cost him from Wimbledon. The third at Wimbledon has just won, but he is not vaccinated and will not be able to play the tournaments that matter for the rest of the summer. The fourth is looking for a grand finale after years of suffering and two hip surgeries.
In September, for the first time in a very long time, however, we will see them again on the pitch together, as part of a sensational European Dream Team: the dear, old Fab Four, the Fantastic Four of tennis, namely Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
The Laver cup, the tennis version of the Ryder Cup of golf that pits a European team and one from the Rest of the World against each other, organized among others by Roger Federer’s management company, Team8, this year will be held in the English capital, at O2 Arena, from 23 to 25 September. And it will probably be the last opportunity to applaud the four champions in the same tournament, as well as the first in which everyone will be part of the same team, led by the other legend Bjorn Borg: in five, they make 94 Grand Slam singles titles. . Federer among other things for this year has planned to play only in London and in the home ATP in Basel, in October, so the opportunity is even more tempting. “It is the only competition in which I can play in the same team against opponents I normally fight against – said Djokovic – taking the field alongside Rafa, Roger and Andy, three of my greatest rivals ever, will really mark a moment. unique in the history of our sport “.
Even Borg, the old IceBorg famous for never leaking emotions, has dissolved the idea “to have four icons of the genre on the team.” And he concluded, with very Scandinavian understatement: “Our goal is to win, and with Rafa, Roger, Novak and Andy in the team I think I have a good chance”.
We agree with Bjorn, also because in the four previous editions – Prague 2017, Chicago 2018, Geneva 2019 and Boston 2021 – the Europe team has always triumphed, despite a variable score formula that favors last-minute twists.
The Old Continent still lacks two players to complete the formation, while the Rest of the World, captained as usual by John McEnroe, for now has enlisted the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the American Taylor Fritz and the Argentine Diego Schwartzman: for now, let’s call them the nice three.