Andy Roddick: “As Davis Cup has really blown itself up, Laver Cup has entered”

Laver Cup, the three-day tennis extravaganza—this year in Berlin—crowned Team Europe champion for the fifth time in its seven-year history. Andy Roddick and returning Served co-host Jon Wertheim had nothing but praise for the event's latest edition.

“I think a lot of the credit to Roger [Federer] and TEAM8 is realizing like there was a lane for something that was a team competition, but was just a lot smarter,” Roddick said. “It’s an easy yes for the players, it’s three days, tiebreaker for a third set, so even if you're playing a lot like Ben Shelton, you're playing indoors, it's predictable, you're not moving across time zones to play three out of five sets. I mean, at Davis Cup if you got into a five-setter you had to give up the week before, and if you play a five-setter on the Sunday and need to get on a plane on Monday, that's a dumpster fire for your body.”

In addition to the positives from players perspectives, Roddick said that, unlike Davis Cup, where “no one ever really knew when it was played but at least you knew what was played,” Laver Cup “starts with a TV experience.”

“I want to hear someone lean over and tell someone what they think about the matchup,” he said. “I've never been so thrilled for switchovers—like the only tennis event on earth where the switchovers might actually be the event. You watch the tennis, you love the tennis, the switchover comes on and I turn off everything else in my room and I'm listening to what's being said.”

Even though he admitted to not being an early believer in Laver Cup, Roddick said, “you care about Laver Cup more because you care about Davis Cup less. As Davis Cup has really blown itself up, Laver Cup has entered.”

Jon Wertheim agreed, calling Davis Cup “a bit of a wreck” and Laver Cup “absolutely right for disruption.” He also said that at this point, with several seasons under the belt, there can now be discussions about what the future of Laver Cup could look like.

He brought up why the ATP was involved, if rotating sites was helping or hurting the event, and even argued for a change of teams as Europe vs. World may not make the most sense. But most notably, he questioned whether or not the women should compete.

“Half of my rationale is it would help with competitive balance,” Wertheim said. “For a while there it was Team Europe winning every year. If this wasn’t an exhibition, wouldn’t you fire McEnroe? I think it would help if you had Naomi Osaka, Coco Gauff, if we were dead set on this Europe vs. the World. I think women would help even it out.”

To this, Roddick countered: “If you’re a huge investor in women’s tennis, just go copy and paste this event.”

“I would be saying the exact same thing if the situation was reversed and Serena had started something that and it was a wild success,” he said. “It wouldn’t be Serena’s responsibility to go put a men’s event together or bring them into something that’s successful.”

Speaking of successful, the two recognized three competitors from this year’s Cup: Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, and Ben Shelton.

“This was an important weekend for Carlos Alcaraz,” Roddick said. “Massive summer, one of the craziest losses I’ve seen based on buildup and Olympics, two Slams and the whole thing, young guy. Alcaraz losing to [Botic] van de Zandschulp in straight sets on a scoreline that’s as lobsided as he’s ever been a part of, and then quickly reestablishing at Laver Cup that I’m the best player in this building, full of Earth’s best players, and also the way the other players very easily were like ‘Oh yeah, he’s the best player here.’”

“A little bit reminiscent of Rafa at this age where the wheels come off by late August and we just need to work under the assumption that this guy is an 8-month out of the year player,” Wertheim said. “For him to come back after the US Open, terrible defeat where his remarks in the press conference afterwards where he basically said, ‘I disappointed myself with how weak I’ve been mentally,’ and you sort of said this guy needs to go to fishing for 90 days. For him to come back three weeks later and really reassert himself like that, you’re right, that was really telling. This clearly meant a lot to him in the big picture as well.”

As for the Americans in action, Roddick made sure they got the respect they deserved. With Taylor Fritz, Roddick believes he doesn’t get enough credit as “the lunch pail guy.”

“He shows up every day and does his job,” he said. “You never think of him as having an off day, giving less than his best effort, playing without a sense of belief. I have a lot of respect for the way Fritz goes about it.”

Ben Shelton, on the other hand, is starting to play against the Top 5 “less as a way of playing above himself” and more so playing with belief in his own game, Roddick said. “I don’t care where his ranking is at the end of this year, I think Ben Shelton has a big year next year.”

The last third of the show was dedicated to “silly season” and all the coaching changes specifically with this year alone. Naomi Osaka’s coaching change rumors just before the US Open were confirmed to be true just after the Slam, Coco Gauff split ways with Brad Gilbert, and Jannik Sinner picked up two members of the Djokovic camp.

Just before the end-of-year look ahead on the calendar, Roddick dared Alcaraz to call the bluff about boycotting mandatory events, and seeing if the tour would really kick him out.

By the end of November, the tours should only be filled with 250 events, Roddick said. At the start of next year, he hopes a number of top players announce they won’t be participating in the larger end-of-year tournaments to ensure reform in the next to near future of the calendar.