Laver Cup and tennis mirror

Holding six continents, hundreds of countries and countless athletes, the World team captain is struggling to find members. That is exactly what Andre Agassi, owner of seven Grand Slam titles, has had to experience in recent weeks.

Agassi is the new leader of the world team at the Laver Cup, an annual team event co-founded by Roger Federer in 2017. At first glance, the American legend has an uncomplicated task, building a team of six players from every continent.

However However, many problems appeared such as injuries, poor health and even the privacy of some candidates, causing Agassi to struggle to adjust, ending with Alex de Minaur replacing Frances Tiafoe. So the 55-year-old captain's squad has a 50/50 ratio between American players and other nationalities. This is the best number the World team has achieved in Laver Cup history.

Over eight seasons with 48 spots for the World team, American players contributed 25 times, while Canada ranked second with seven times. These are also two of the six countries that have had athletes represent the world, besides Argentina, Australia, South Africa and this year Brazil, thanks to the presence of rising talent Joao Fonseca. The 19-year-old star is one of Agassi's three choices, the remaining three members were invited based on their position on the ATP rankings table when Roland Garros ended.

The Laver Cup aspires to be tennis' version of the Ryder Cup, aiming for an event with symbolism, fame and glamor, much like golf's biennial tournament where the US team plays Europe. Similar to the Ryder Cup, the Laver Cup selects players according to rank with special spots decided by the captain. And this shows the nature behind the appearance: in the battle of the European team with the world, Americans and Canadians are often the core.

Unlike the Ryder Cup when Europe participates to support the UK against the US, at the Laver Cup, it is the US that needs help.. In the past nine years with eight Laver Cups, European players have won all the Grand Slams. The truth is that when the list of players invited to this year's Laver Cup thanks to their good rankings was announced in June, Europe absolutely dominated with all six names at the top. The higher the position, the more participation fees a player receives.

Except for Europe, the World team still has many other players, but the choice has been significantly narrowed by the huge influence of traditional tennis habits, on the schedule, economics and prestige level of the tournament, which governs almost everything in this sport. Federer wants to change and elevate the Laver Cup, so he lets this event be associated with his name. Thanks to Federer, the tournament is guaranteed to be sold out from day one until 2022, when he retires.

Since then, the Laver Cup has had to make more efforts to attract stars to maintain its attraction. But even though tennis is a global sport and the Laver Cup has a team called the World, the event doesn't seem destined to expand its viewership market. Not to mention Africa, even Asia - with many large and small tournaments and possessing many good players like Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan - has almost no chance of participating. Question marks are raised when the focus is on North America, South America, Australia and a few other regions.

In reality, not everyone is willing or ready to compete. De Minaur, world number eight, was invited to participate in June but declined. His plan is to return to Australia to play the Davis Cup after leaving the US Open. If he plays in the Laver Cup, De Minaur will have to fly to the US again, then return to Asia to compete in the hard court phase at the end of the season to earn tickets to the ATP Finals. It's a "torture " schedule.

"The first priority is to make sure the body is healthy, " De Minaur said before the Laver Cup when revealing the executives made sure he didn't have to play much. "When I was told that I didn't have to try too hard, I believed I could play. " It was De Minaur who scored the most points for this year's Laver Cup with seven points. Australian tennis players won all three matches, including two singles and one doubles. Thanks to that, the world team won 15-9 to win the Laver Cup for the third time on September 22.

"There will be no harsh training sessions. Laver Cup is a team event with a unique scoring format ", said world team vice-captain Patrick Rafter. "I think this tournament helps the players regain focus and have other experiences right during the event, so that when it's time to compete, they can explode and perform for the audience. " The World Team may not have the most elite faces of the time, but at least at the Laver Cup, they will still receive support from the global audience in general.