The Inside View: Look who’s back at Laver Cup

Take a deep dive into Laver Cup San Francisco 2025 to find out what’s happening between the white lines.

John McEnroe Relaxed as Team World Ex-Captain
Tennis legend and seven-time Team World captain John McEnroe visited Andy Roddick’s live Served podcast Friday morning. He’s a lot more relaxed this year-round. “They’re feeling a lot of stress,” McEnroe said about the captains ahead of the start of the tournament. “They are thinking if the decisions they made are going to work out and seeing if there is going to be any fun in this.”

Roddick asked McEnroe about the strategy for picking the lineup and the role of the captain beyond that. McEnroe said that, as a captain, he’s just trying to make a “tiny bit of difference, maybe 5%”. Understanding players and lineups, and how the opposition may schedule its lineup, was critical. For McEnroe, he had help from the players.

“Taylor [Fritz] was very well prepared and thinks through all the possible scenarios,” McEnroe said.

A discussion about McEnroe’s ideal Laver Cup team—had there been Laver Cup in his playing days—got McEnroe thinking about his Davis Cup history, citing playing doubles with Pete Sampras and commenting on how talented Peter Fleming was. He also chatted about his relationship with Jimmy Connors and how they once went nine months without speaking to each other, even when on the same Davis Cup team. “That’s not a great team environment,” McEnroe said. After not seeing him for six years, the two met last week and McEnroe told Roddick they hope all three can golf together soon.

McEnroe was quick to show his support to Rod Laver and what he did for all the players who came after him. “I used to cry when he lost to Ken Rosewall,” McEnroe said, calling him the Babe Ruth of tennis, a man who changed the game for everyone.

Ballkids Get a Visit from Alex de Minaur
The 24 ballkids that make up the Laver Cup team were told they wouldn’t be meeting any players on Friday between sessions. They didn’t believe that, especially when Taylor Fritz, Reilly Opelka, Casper Ruud and Tim Henman all came out to the stringing area where they were gathered. But when the four walked right past them, doubt crept in.

Then came Alex de Minaur. The Australian surprised the kids and encouraged them to keep cheering for Team World. He joked with them, including one who slipped during the first session. “I saw you,” De Minaur said to the delight of the others. “You need some more grip on your shoes.” All wasn’t lost for the kid, though, as he took on the Aussie in a best-of-three-point table tennis match. The two split the first two points before De Minaur warned him to not “get tight.” The next point went to De Minaur, but all the kids won, getting autographs and selfies with the world No. 8.

Standing Ovation for Rod Laver
A full stadium at San Francisco’s Chase Center honored Rod Laver with a standing ovation as he was introduced during Friday’s opening ceremony. Following the introductions of the players, a video described how Laver helped create the Open Era of tennis. The Australian legend then walked out with American great John McEnroe for the opening coin toss. Fun fact: The Laver Cup uses electronic line calling and every call is made by the same voice: Rod Laver.

Opening Ceremony Takes Cinematic Approach
Laver Cup took a decidedly visual approach to the San Francisco 2025 opening ceremony, making full use of one of the largest indoor video boards in the world. The 9,699-square-foot board is longer than the white lines of the Laver Cup tennis court itself. A video montage of past Laver Cup moments played while the arena was bathed in blue and red lighting. The trophy remained on center court as each team member was announced.

Jodi Wallis Attends Eighth-Straight Laver Cup
All eight. That’s how many Laver Cup editions Jodi Wallis has attended. The invitation to visit Prague in 2017 for the inaugural competition came straight from Rod Laver himself. Living in Carlsbad, California, Wallis is a neighbor of Laver so heard about the event early on. Since Wallis and her husband love tennis so much they opted to make a family trip out of it. “It was such a fun experience,” she said. “We were sitting in a group and the people around us were from all over the world—Brazil, South Africa—and even though we may have been cheering for different people we had so much fun bantering, talking about who our favorite players were and why we were there. Prague was a great host. It was a whole new experience, but it was so fun.”

So much fun, in fact, the family trip turned into an annual event. “My husband and I both enjoyed it so much, it was a bonding thing,” Wallis said. Jana Motley, Wallis’ daughter, has attended six of the eight and said for the first one Laver was so humble he invited them because he didn’t know if anyone else was going to come. “Now we know the masses want this,” Motley said. “Both the players and the fans wanted it and that was something Prague ignited.”