Golf or tennis? Ryder Cup or Laver Cup?
Next weekend there will be a big showdown of the continental comparisons: Ryder Cup vs. Laver Cup. If you are interested in both, you should have a second screen at hand.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Sep 19, 2021, 09:51 am
At the beginning of 2017 nobody knew exactly what the Laver Cup was supposed to be. A new kind of team competition, that was clear, which will also be held according to a new counting mode. There was only one thing that co-organizer Roger Federer was able to announce very early on: that the model of the Laver Cup could be found in golf, namely the Ryder Cup. Which is not entirely true in terms of content, because in the Ryder Cup the best in Europe compete against the best in the USA, in the Laver Cup it is Europe against the rest of the tennis world.
Next weekend, both events will take place almost at the same time, experience has shown that golfers go to the course a little earlier in the day than tennis players to the court. The evenings should then again belong to Zverev, Medvedev and Co. move on to the fourth edition of the Laver Cup on September 26th. The golfers' competition is also held in the USA, on the Whistling Straits Course in Kohler, Wisconsin.
Ryder Cup first held in 1927
Which event will inspire more fans? On site, the Ryder Cup will be clearly ahead of the game, after all, the capacity of the TD Boston Garden is normally limited to 19,580 seats. However, since it is an indoor event, restrictions must be expected in times like these. It certainly looks different in the fresh air in Wisconsin.
And the TV ratings, especially in the US? At best, the finals of the US Open attracted around 2.5 million viewers in front of the TV screen, and the Ryder Cup will easily top that. Because while this has been held since 1927 and is entered as a fixed date in the (TV) calendar by almost all golf fans, the Laver Cup still has a bit of the smell of the exhibition match at the highest level. The fact that the ATP will include the Boston results in the official statistics does nothing to change that. There are no world ranking points either there, but they are not as important in golf as they are in tennis.
Federer, Djokovic, Nadal, Woods not included
The big difference? Even though the European golfers last won their last victory so far near Paris in 2018, this time the hosts from the USA are going into the race as favorites due to the current world rankings. With the tennis cracks it is exactly the other way around, as the top people Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev impressively underlined again at the US Open.
The similarity? The biggest active stars of the sport are missing at both events, at the Laver Cup with Roger Federer , Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic even all three. In Wisconsin, Tiger Woods, still the most eye-catching golfer, won't be seen in an active role after his car accident. After all: Phil Mickelson, almost on par with Woods in terms of popularity, is the vice-captain for the USA. But if the Ryder Cup showed one thing: this event is bigger than the stars involved. The Laver Cup has yet to provide this proof.