John McEnroe announced on Thursday that he has selected Nick Kyrgios, John Isner and Reilly Opelka in the Laver Cup Team World. The 4th edition of this clash between Europe and the rest of the world will take place in Boston from September 24 to 26.
John McEnroe, captain of Team World Laver Cup in tennis, unveiled this Thursday on the identity of the last three players to join his team. The American has set his sights on the nice surprise of this summer, his compatriot Reilly Opelka, unfortunate finalist last Sunday at the ATP tournament in Toronto against Daniil Medvedev. The other two names that came out of the hat of the whimsical ex-tennis player of the 1970s / 80s are Nick Kyrgios and John Isner.
Six men on a mission: @ReillyOpelka @JohnIsner and @NickKyrgios join @dieschwartzman @denis_shapo @felixtennis for Team World’s campaign at #LaverCup Boston 2021.
Full story: https://t.co/fSSeHcuMAm pic.twitter.com/RSJD0Tp9Vh– Laver Cup (@LaverCup) August 19, 2021
“I was really impressed with the recent form of Opelka,” the American captain told reporters. “He’s a young boy and a novice in the Laver Cup but with John (Isner, editor’s note) and Nick (Kyrgios, editor’s note) involved in the adventure since its launch, we have experience ” he added. Aware of the inferiority of his team on paper, John McEnroe therefore relied on the experience of the Australian, 81st in the world at ATP, and on the powerful and seasoned Isner, 26th in the world from the top of his 36 years.
All set to defend the title: @DaniilMedwed @steftsitsipas @AlexZverev @AndreyRublev97 @MattBerrettini and @ CasperRuud98 to represent Team Europe at #LaverCup Boston 2021.
Full story: https://t.co/wMF4wuYcHR pic.twitter.com/XlTRndHX6x– Laver Cup (@LaverCup) August 18, 2021
These three players join the trio Diego Schwartzmann, Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime. This team will challenge Team Europe, victorious in the first three editions and could not be more favorite despite the forfeits of Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem. Also deprived of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the old continent team will have five members of the world top 10 in its ranks, the exception being Casper Ruud, 11th at ATP. Accompanied by Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev, the Norwegian joined a magical trio made up of Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Matteo Berrettini.
At TD Garden in Boston, home of the Celtics in the NBA, Bjorn Börg has a good chance of adding a new title to his captain’s record although this competition is not on the ATP calendar.