Coming into this year’s US Open, Ben Shelton felt he had something to prove. But it had nothing to do with the final major of the year, where he reached the semi-finals before falling to the eventual winner, Novak Djokovic.
Instead, Shelton felt he had to justify his inclusion on the six-man World Team at the Laver Cup, an elite event that begins Friday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.
“When the announcement first came out, I saw all these comments on Instagram like, ‘Why did you get him?’ Why; Why this guy? There are so many higher-ranked players,” said Shelton, who entered the US Open ranked No. 47 in the world but is now No. 19 because of his New York semifinal. “I wanted to show people that maybe I deserved to be on the team.”
The Laver Cup started in Prague in 2017 and swaps continents every year between Europe and North America. Team Europe, captained by Bjorn Borg, who won 11 majors, includes Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Hubert Hurkacz, Gaël Monfils, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Arthur Fils. John McEnroe, who won seven major singles titles, captains Team World. Its players are Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Francisco Cerundolo.
Last year’s event in London was notable for featuring Roger Federer’s final match before retirement. His biggest rivals Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray all turned up to honor him. His final match, a doubles loss to Nadal’s teammate Tiafoe and Jack Sock, was a tearful tribute to the 20-time major champion.
This year’s Laver Cup represents a generational shift in the sport. Federer has retired and Nadal, 37, has not played an ATP match since the Australian Open in January due to injuries.
Murray, 36, is not the player he was when he won the US Open in 2012, Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016 and became world No. 1 in 2016. And Djokovic, who won his 24th major division at the US Open less than two weeks ago and is the current No. 1, has his sights set on winning another major.
“The end of an era heralds the beginning of a new one,” said Rod Laver – the player for whom the competition is named – who was part of his generation’s rivalries with Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe and Jan Kodes, among the rest. “Today’s top young players are fighting for pole position and we will see them compete in a team in Vancouver that puts the seasons together.”
McEnroe, who had his own heated rivalries with Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl during the 1970s and ’80s, lamented that the Laver Cup had not created the same appeal to players as the Ryder Cup, the team event in golf.
“The goal was to make it like golf’s Ryder Cup, where everyone waited until the last minute to see who was hotter, but everyone was available,” McEnroe said. “It doesn’t seem to be happening now. It’s harder to get everyone committed.”
Carlos Alcaraz, the Wimbledon champion and world No. 2, declined to play, as did US Open runner-up and world No. 3 Daniil Medvedev. However, six of the next 11 ranked players are competing this year and another three, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alex de Minaur, have played in the past.
This year, Team Europe will play without the strong core of Federer, Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, Alcaraz and Medvedev. Winners in each of the first four years, the Europeans lost on the final day last year when Team World’s Auger-Aliassime beat Djokovic and Tiafoe edged past Tsitsipas.
Paul, who beat Alcaraz in a tournament in Canada this summer but then lost to Shelton at the US Open, said he was all too aware of the void left by the Big Four.
“It’s definitely a big loss for tennis in general, not just for the Laver Cup,” he said. “It obviously gives us a very good opportunity.”
Fritz, who last year won his only Laver Cup race, acknowledged the generational shift.
“I think times are definitely changing,” said Fritz, who is the top-ranked American at No. 8. “It’s going to be a really different Laver Cup this year with how Team Europe is set up.”
Tiafoe, who lost in the US Open quarterfinals to Shelton, agreed.
“Yeah, it’s generational,” Tiafoe said during the Open. “I think the fans will appreciate the new faces. Tennis is in an excellent place. the level is getting better and better.”
Before playing for the first time in 2021, Rublev was skeptical of the event, which does not award ATP ranking points.
“When I was watching on TV, I was thinking, the way they’re so excited, it’s not real,” he said. “But when you get there, you want to win. You work with the team, you start to feel the support and you don’t want to let them down.”
Fritz also knows the camaraderie of team competition that is so rare in tennis. Last year, Team Europe members watched a doubles practice between Federer and Nadal and Murray and Djokovic. Both teams sat on the sidelines at every game, cheering and giving coaching advice.
In tennis, when you win, Fritz said during the US Open, “you don’t really have people to celebrate and have fun with. Winning last year, I felt that was one of the highlights of my tennis career because we were able to celebrate with a group of my close friends.”
Seismic moves in tennis are nothing new. After Laver and his rivals, and Borg-McEnroe-Connors-Lendl, came Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang. Every time an era ends, there are those who feel there can never be another great.
Then came Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray. And now Alcaraz has emerged to challenge Djokovic, as have other talented young players.
Shelton, who turns 21 next month, is one of them. A former player at the University of Florida, he helped the Gators to the 2021 NCAA team championship. He then won the NCAA singles title the following year before leaving school and turning pro last year.
At this year’s Open, Shelton became the youngest American to reach the semifinals since Chang in 1992. For Shelton, the Laver Cup holds a special attraction.
“I’m really excited to be in the team atmosphere,” he said at the US Open. “First team competition I’ve been in since leaving college. I’ll be just as pumped up and emotional in Vancouver as I was here.”
