After being captained by John and Patrick McEnroe for Laver Cup’s first seven years, Team World will be guided in 2025 by a pair of Hall of Famers, Andre Agassi and Patrick Rafter. It will be fascinating to see what Agassi, an astute analyst of the game, as well as a member of three Davis Cup championship teams, will bring to the mix as he leads Team World’s six players. Ditto for Rafter, who as an Australian, hails from the nation that for decades has brought team spirit to the tennis more emphatically than any country in tennis history. Mentored extensively courtside and beyond by such Aussie icons as Tony Roche and John Newcombe, Rafter too will provide plenty of wisdom.
When it comes to the players, if experience is the best indicator, then Team World’s alpha males are a pair of Americans, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz. Between them, these two have competed at Laver Cup nine times. Currently ranked 29 in the world, Tiafoe made his Laver Cup debut at the age of 19 in 2017 and five years later, clinched Team World’s first championship run with a dramatic win over Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Tiafoe said that day. “We all did it together; it wasn’t just me. I showed a lot of heart to get this done. This is big.”
Tiafoe also won three matches when Team World took the title again in 2023. Having lost early at the US Open, Tiafoe will likely bring plenty of energy and a strong desire to make a statement in San Francisco.
