LAVER CUP 2026: How it works

The Laver Cup pits six of the best men’s tennis players from Europe against six of their counterparts from the rest of the world over three days of intense team competition.

The 9th edition takes place from September 25-27 at The O2 in London.

SuperSport will bring you all the action live on SS Tennis, Tennis Africa daily from 2pm-00:00am.

PLAYER QUALIFICATION

The three highest ranked players from each region, Europe and the World, based on their ATP singles ranking as of the Monday following Roland-Garros, receive an automatic invitation to play the Laver Cup.

If a top three ranked player chooses not to participate, the offer is made to another high ranked player, until three players on each team are confirmed.

There are three Captain’s Picks per team which can be announced any time before the start of the US Open.

If any players are announced prior to Roland Garros, the respective team captain is committing to using a Captain’s Pick on any or all of them if they do not qualify based on ranking.

Each team has a maximum of two alternates.

FORMAT

The tournament consists of five sessions played over three days (Friday – Sunday).

Both singles and doubles are best of three sets with ad scoring. In the event of split sets, the third set is a 10-point match tiebreaker.

Each player competes in at least one singles match during the first two days.

No player can play singles more than twice during the three days.

At least four of the six players must play doubles. No doubles combination is played more than once, unless for the Decider on Day 3, if points are 12:12.

The winning team must reach 13 points.

In the event of a tie after all 12 matches are played, a final overtime doubles match – a Decider – is played as a regular set with ad scoring and a tiebreak.

In the event that only one match is required on Sunday, an exhibition match is played following the trophy ceremony.

TEAM CAPTAINS

Each team is captained by a legend of the sport. Yannick Noah is the captain of Team Europe and Andre Agassi is the captain of Team World. Tim Henman is the vice-captain of Team Europe and Patrick Rafter is the vice-captain of Team World.

CAPTAIN’S ROLE

The captains play a pivotal role in leading their teams, they are responsible for player selection; determining the daily line-up; team leadership both on and off the court; match preparation and on-court coaching during the matches.

Their strategic thinking is critical to provide the team with the best chance of accumulating the 13 points needed to claim the Laver Cup before the opposition.