The 2023 Laver Cup will be without some of the biggest superstars of tennis. This will be only the second edition where Roger Federer will not participate in the tournament that he formulated. Other big names to give the event a miss include Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Rafael Nadal. Alexander Zverev, though, might be the tournament’s biggest absentee in the glorious pool of missing names.
Zverev has had a good 2023 so far after returning from a long-term injury. However, he will be missing the Laver Cup for the second year in a row. Because of his injury lay-off, the German’s ranking was not high enough to get him a spot on Team Europe. He was unfortunately not among captain Bjorn Borg’s picks as well. Zverev has one of the best individual records in the history of the competition, keeping it competitive over the years.
Alexander Zverev is the most successful Laver Cup player in history
Zverev featured in the first four editions of the Laver Cup from 2017 to 2021. His horrific ankle injury in the 2022 French Open semi-final meant he could not participate in the tournament last year. He will miss it this year as well. He is tied for the most Laver Cup appearances with Federer, Nick Kyrgios, John Isner, Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock. Each of them has played in four editions of the Cup. However, Zverev stands alone for most tournament wins, winning it four times.
With six men’s singles match wins, Zverev is tied with Federer for most singles matches won. The former World No.2 won both his fixtures in the inaugural Laver Cup. He followed it with clutch performances in the next two years. The 2020 Olympics gold medallist won the final match on both occasions to take Team Europe over the line. In 2018, he bested Kevin Anderson in three long sets to clinch the cup for his team with one match to go.
The 2019 Laver Cup ran very close, with a winner-takes-all clash between Alexander Zverev and Milos Raonic set to decide the cup winner. The last match on the schedule became a virtual final. The two-time ATP Tour Finals winner held on to win in three sets and secure Team Europe’s hat-trick of titles.
Overall, Zverev has won six singles matches. His doubles record in the tournament stands at 2-2 compared to Federer’s 2-4. Hence, he has the best W/L ratio (min. four matches) in history of the Laver Cup, winning eight and losing three for a 73% ratio. The German is also second in the list of players with the best points tally. His record of 18-6 is second only to John Isner’s 20-9, with Federer coming in third with 18-8. After his rest, Zverev is set to return at the Shanghai Masters in October.
When Roger Federer coached Alexander Zverev to a win
The Laver Cup brings tennis greatest minds together. Zverev got a taste of this after being passionately coached by Roger Federer on the sidelines of his 2018 singles match against Anderson. A win for the then-World No.5 would wrap up the tournament in favour of Team Europe but he found himself trailing by a set.
Federer then took it upon himself to guide Zverev. The Swiss talked animatedly for nearly a minute as his teammate took a break. The words of advise got to Zverev as he bounced back to win the match and the title.
A similar scenario ensued next year. Zverev faced Raonic in a must-win fixture and Federer was seen actively encouraging the German from the side. The Laver Cup’s innovator admitted to yelling at his player in the locker room as well as to and from it (via tennis.com). While Federer may not be available to coach him anymore, Zverev will want to return to his favourite team tournament next year.
