The WTA Tour may have something to think about after seeing how successful an ATP tournament has been.
There are many comparisons between men’s and women’s tennis, and they play alongside one another at the four Grand Slam events, as well as some 1000 and 500 level tournaments.
Before, there have been rumours of a potential merger between the ATP and WTA Tours, but that has not come to fruition as of yet.
However, it seems like a sensible decision for the WTA Tour to follow their counterparts by creating a new tournament.
Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Laver CupThe WTA Tour should have their own version of the Laver Cup
The Laver Cup has been a fixture for men’s tennis players since 2017, and it has been an ATP sanctioned event since 2019.
Roger Federer co-founded the Laver Cup, named after Australian tennis legend Rod Laver, which follows a similar format to golf’s Ryder Cup, and pits Team Europe against Team World.
The Laver Cup has seen some of the best players on the ATP Tour compete in it over the years, including Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and also saw Federer retire in 2022.
After holding its eighth edition in San Francisco, where Team World beat Team Europe to win the Laver Cup, it seems that now is the time to start looking at making a WTA edition.
The Ryder Cup held its first edition in 1927, before a women’s version of the event, named the Solheim Cup, began in 1990.
Although it is good that they now have a women’s edition of the iconic event, 63 years is far too long for a WTA version of the Laver Cup to be introduced.
This is something that American tennis journalist Jon Wertheim has discussed on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, suggesting the idea of a Williams Cup and having both Venus and Serena Williams as the two team captains.
Wertheim also revealed that he had spoken to one of the organisers of the Laver Cup in San Francisco, who explained that they were open to the idea if someone else wanted to arrange it.
“Who wouldn’t want to see a Williams Cup, where Venus and Serena are opposing coaches?” questioned Wertheim.
“If we are going to have a celebration of tennis, I was actually talking to one of the organisers. He said, ‘Look, this is an open source code. If someone wants to do this for women then great, we would be happy to share our template’.”
Who could play in a WTA version of the Laver Cup?
Although there is not currently a WTA version of the Laver Cup, it is exciting to imagine what it could look like with the current set of players.
As is the case with the Laver Cup, rivals will become teammates and will have to work together to beat their opposition.
Based on the current WTA rankings, this could see the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina all on one team.
In this hypothetical scenario, Team World would be dominated by American names, including Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula.
Team Europe Team WorldAryna SabalenkaCoco GauffIga SwiatekAmanda AnisimovaMirra AndreevaMadison KeysJasmine PaoliniJessica PegulaElena RybakinaQinwen ZhengEkaterina AlexandrovaNaomi OsakaClara Tauson (Alternate)Emma Navarro (Alternate)
Team World look particularly standout as they also could feature Asian tennis stars such as Qinwen Zheng and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka.
It does not seem likely that a WTA version of the Laver Cup is going to become a reality next year, but these lineups alone should certainly make it a consideration for the future.