With the Laver Cup only a few days away, the United Center in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago is being transformed into a world of red and blue, with black underneath as the revolutionary playing surface for the second instalment of this tennis blockbuster.
Tonight at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, players from Team World (red) and Team Europe (blue) will touch down, soon to hit on the black Laver Cup practice court, which will be viewable by visitors to the Laver Cup Fan Zone – the biggest of its kind ever staged at the United Center.
Food outlets, beer and wine tents, arcade-style tennis activities, giant screens, mini tennis and an International Tennis Hall of Fame history showcase will be available to anyone with a match-day event ticket OR a free fan zone-only ticket.
Fans will have the rare opportunity to see some of the world’s best players, including Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov, Kevin Anderson, John Isner, Jack Sock and Nick Kyrgios as they go through their warm-ups on the purpose-built practice court located in the heart of the Laver Cup Fan Zone.
The Fan Zone opens on Thursday at 10am, with a special family session running from 4pm-8pm.
The Laver Cup gets underway on Friday at 1pm with two singles matches followed by a singles and doubles match in the night session (7pm), all best-of-three sets with ad scoring and a 10-point tiebreaker to determine the winner if sets are split at two-all.
Players for the opening day will be announced by captains on Thursday at 12.30pm, as each side reveals its selections for Friday.
Saturday’s lineup will be announced an hour after play ends Friday night. Sunday’s lineup will be announced an hour after play ends Saturday night.
Each match win is worth one point on Friday, two points on Saturday, and three points on Sunday. If points are 12-all on Day 3, a doubles set with a tiebreaker will decide the Laver Cup champion. The winning team must reach 13 points. An exhibition match will be played after the trophy ceremony if the overall winner is decided after Match 9.
United Center gates open 90 minutes before session start.
For more information about the Laver Cup Fan Zone, transport, parking, stadium information, rules, format, merchandise and other essentials, check out the Laver Cup Event Guide