LOS ANGELES, Sept. 20, 2022 – Tennis Channel will be the U.S. home of the 2022 Laver Cup in London this weekend, as Roger Federer – one of the greatest players of all time – wraps up a 24-year career for the ages September 23-25. The Swiss legend, who has not played since Wimbledon in 2021 due to injury, announced last week that he would retire after this weekend’s competition, an annual all-star battle between the best players in Europe against the rest of the world. The first Laver Cup match will be live on the network Friday, Sept. 23, at 8 a.m. ET (complete schedule below).
Spain’s Rafael Nadal, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Britain’s Andy Murray will join Federer on Team Europe this year. Americans Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and Jack Sock make up half of the Team World roster.
Federer is considered by many to be the greatest and most complete tennis player ever. After winning his first major championship at Wimbledon in 2003 he went on to reset the history books, blowing past Pete Sampras’ record 14 major titles to become the first man to reach 20 in 2018. He was so dominant that he won 11 majors between 2004-2007. Federer also stockpiled tour championship after championship, finishing second only to Jimmy Connors on the men’s all-time titles list, and claim the No. 1 singles ranking for years. His longtime rivalry with Nadal is thought to be one of the best in tennis or any other sport. At their peak the two seemingly ended up in Sunday championship matches every week on the professional circuit.
Since its first edition in 2017, Laver Cup has aired live on Tennis Channel each year (the event was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19). The network will show more than 20 live hours and another 20 hours of encore replays. Hall of Famers Martina Navratilova (@Martina), Jim Courier, Pam Shriver (@PHShriver) and Andy Roddick (@andyroddick) are part of the network’s on-air team this year, with Shriver calling matches and Navratilova offering commentary. Courier and Roddick will provide their perspective on daily studio show Tennis Channel Live. Chanda Rubin
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(@ChandaRubin), who won the 1996 Australian Open doubles championship, will offer analysis this year, as will current American star Reilly Opelka (@ReillyOpelka). This will be Opelka’s first time as a member of Tennis Channel’s on-air team. Former player Leif Shiras (@ShirasLeif) will also announce 2022 Laver Cup matches on the network. Tennis Channel mainstay Steve Weissman (@SteveWeissman) will host Tennis Channel Livethis weekend.
Laver Cup action will run live on Tennis Channel’s new free ad-supported television (FAST) channel, T2, available on Samsung TV Plus to anyone with a Samsung television made in 2017 or later. It will also air on select Bally Sports regional networks around the country. The networks are owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which also owns Tennis Channel.
Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray are commonly referred to as the Big Four and have kept the lion’s share of Grand Slam singles championships among themselves for the past two decades. They have dominated the top of the rankings and have rewritten the record book for the all-time men’s singles major titles in the case of Nadal (22), Djokovic (21) and Federer (20). The other Team Europe players are Finland’s Casper Ruud, who reached the French Open and US Open finals this year, and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, 2019 ATP Tour Finals champion and a five-time major singles semifinalist.
Team World will counter with Americans Tiafoe and Fritz, both in the midst of career years. Tiafoe just reached his first major singles semifinal at the US Open a few weeks ago, defeating Nadal along the way. In March Fritz won the BNP Paribas Open singles crown in Indian Wells, Calif. – also a personal best – and upset Nadal in in the championship match. Fellow American Jack Sock has won doubles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open, as well as an Olympic gold medalist in mixed doubles. Young Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime won his first ATP singles and team cup titles in 2022, and achieved his highest singles ranking, No. 8. Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman has been a top-ranked singles player and also scored an upset victory over Nadal during the 2020 Italian Open. Australia’s Alex De Minaur rounds out Team World, and is a six-time ATP Tour singles champion.
For the fifth time, all-time great John McEnroe will lead Team World into battle as its captain, with his younger brother Patrick as vice captain. McEnroe squares off against his playing-days rival Bjorn Borg, who helms Team Europe for the fifth time as well. Thomas Enqvist is also back as Borg’s vice captain. In 1999 he reached the Australian Open singles final.
This is the fifth Laver Cup competition, which alternates annually between European and other host cities. Europe has won all four of the previous matchups: 15-9 in Prague in 2017, 13-8 in Chicago in 2018, 13-11 in Geneva in 2019 and 14-1 in Boston last September. London’s landmark O2 Arena, with one of the largest seating capacities in tennis, is this year’s Laver Cup host. For many years the home of the men’s year-ending ATP Tour Finals, the indoor venue is known for passionate, enthusiastic tennis crowds.
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Thirteen points are needed to capture the Laver Cup this weekend. The event’s unique, escalating-scoring system is tailor-made for rallies and late comebacks. There are four matches each day – three singles and one doubles. On Friday, each match is worth one point, with two for each on Saturday and three for every match Sunday. There are day and night sessions Friday and Saturday, with a single day session of four matches Sunday.
Tennis Channel’s Live 2022 Laver Cup Schedule
Date Time (ET) Event
Friday, Sept. 23 8 a.m. Day Session (Two Singles)
2 p.m. Night Session (Singles, Doubles)
Saturday, Sept. 24 8 a.m. Day Session (Two Singles)
2 p.m. Night Session (Singles, Doubles)
Sunday, Sept. 25 7 a.m. Day Session (Doubles, Three Singles)
Tennis Channel(www.tennischannel.com) which is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, is the only television-based multiplatform destination dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle. The network has the most concentrated single-sport coverage in television in one of the world’s most voluminous sports, with multiple men’s and women’s tournaments and singles, doubles and mixed competition throughout the year. Tennis Channel has rights at the four majors – US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open) and Australian Open – and is the exclusive U.S. home of all men’s ATP World Tour and women’s WTA Tour competitions, Laver Cup and Billie Jean King Cup. Direct-to-consumer streaming service Tennis Channel Plusis available to everyone in the United States and allows subscribers to select from another 4,500 live and on-demand matches and award-winning content from short-form to films throughout the tennis season. Tennis Channel Internationalbrings live competition and network content to markets in Europe and Asia via digital subscription and free ad-supported streamingTV (FAST) channels.Additional platforms Tennis Magazine and www.tennis.com are the largest print and digital outlets dedicated to the sport. Tennis Channel also manages a network of close to 20 podcasts.
About Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. is a diversified media company and a leading provider of local news and sports. The Company owns, operates and/or provides services to 185 television stations in 86 markets; owns multiple national networks including Tennis Channel and Stadium; has TV stations affiliated with all the major broadcast networks and owns and/or operates 21 regional sports network brands. Sinclair’s content is delivered via multiple platforms, including over-the-air, multi-channel video program distributors, and digital and streaming platforms NewsON and STIRR. The Company regularly uses its website as a key source of Company information which can be accessed atwww.sbgi.net.
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Eric Abner, Tennis Channel, 310-314-9445, eabner@tennischannel.com, @TennisChannelPR