By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday October 7, 2021
The Laver Cup has won over legions of tennis fans in its four-year history. And we can add several top players to that list as well. So what is it about the competition that causes players to embrace it so willingly, especially in this day and age of packed calendars and the “every man for himself” mentality of the ATP Tour.
According to Stefanos Tsitsipas, camaraderie is the answer. The Greek says having the chance to spend a week on the same team of some of his top rivals is a welcome change from the intensity and competitiveness of the day to day on the ATP Tour.
"I think team competitions are necessary for our sport and we don't really get to be united a lot,” Tsitsipas told Tennis Now during his pre-tournament press conference at Indian Wells. “We always kind of focus on ourselves and focus on our team, our environment and that's what you usually see when you are on the tour, you see all the players doing their own thing, not much socializing going on and it's not really the same in other sports, so it's great to be able to witness and see that switch a little bit.”
Tsitsipas says breaking bread and hanging out with his Team Europe rivals is a refreshing surprise that he enjoyed very much.
“At Laver Cup we all get to have dinners together, we all get to hang out with each other, and it's just such a nice thing, it fulfills you, it makes you feel really good, and I really wish we had more of that,” he said. "Of course we all have our competitiveness and we kind of feel like if we get stuck around we might share too much with one another, I guess that's the mentality behind it, but at the end of the day it's that connection we are all lacking, it's every single man for himself, and that's not the case for Laver Cup and that's what Makes it stand out so much, and I think most of us would agree that it's one of the best events of the year."