2020 Laver Cup officially cancelled

Rod Laver (Google Images)

The 2020 Laver Cup has officially been cancelled. The team tournament was to take place at Toronto Dominion Garden in Boston, Massachusetts from September 25 to 27, but the event will not take place this year because the dates are in conflict with the rescheduled dates of the 2020 French Open according to the ATP Tour. The Laver Cup will be in Boston from September 24-26, 2021.

The French Open, the second major on the annual tennis schedule, was originally scheduled to occur from May 24 to June 7 but was postponed due to coronavirus. Due to the fact that the ATP and WTA schedules are jammed packed every year, the move to the dates of September 20 to October 4, seemed like the most logical decision.

The Laver Cup is named after Australian tennis legend Rod Laver, who is the last male tennis player to win all four grand slam events in one year. He accomplished the feat not just once, but twice. The first time was in 1962 and the second time was in 1969. Laver also won the 1960 Australian Open, and two more Wimbledon titles in 1961 and 1968.

The Laver Cup is a team competition between the best players from Europe versus the best players from outside Europe. Team Europe has in fact won all three competitions to date–in 2017 in Prague, in 2018 in Chicago and in 2019 in Geneva. Two tennis players have been on all three European teams that have won the Laver Cup. They are Roger Federer of Switzerland and Alexander Zverev of Germany. Meanwhile, the great Bjorn Borg of Sweden has been the team captain for all three European titles.