DAY SESSION (1 p.m.)<\/p>\n
CASPER RUUD (EUROPE) VS. FRANCISCO CERUNDOLO (WORLD)
In a rematch of their Laver Cup 2024 opener in Berlin, Norway\u2019s Casper Ruud and Argentine Francisco Cerundolo will once again kick off the festivities in this annual Europe vs. World showdown, this time at The O2 in London. Cerundolo took that former encounter, 6-4, 6-4, handing Ruud his lone singles loss in Laver Cup play. The new husband\/new dad Ruud will be more than motivated to give captain Yannick Noah and Team Europe an early boost as they seek revenge for a 15-9 defeat last year at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Cerundolo enjoyed what he calls \u201cthe best moment of my career\u201d earlier this year with a title run on home turf in Buenos Aires, and later snared his biggest trophy at the ATP 500 level on grass at Queen\u2019s Club.<\/p>\n
Head-to-head: Cerundolo 5-4<\/p>\n
Last played: Madrid SF, 2025 Winner: Ruud 6-4, 7-5<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/H2H-Preview-Match-2-Hero.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
JAKUB MENSIK (EUROPE) VS. BRANDON NAKASHIMA (TEAM WORLD)
Two of the ATP Tour\u2019s biggest servers will go at it on Day 1 in London on the signature black Laver Cup court. The Southern Californian Nakashima, 25, prevailed in three sets in their only tour-level meeting this summer en route to the semifinals in Washington. The 21-year-old Mensik, who burst onto the scene last year when he won the ATP Masters 1000 title in Miami, hopes to use his Laver Cup experience to turn the tables against the first-timer Nakashima, who\u2019s poised at a career-high No. 16 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Nakashima brings some momentum. His summer included a 12-3 run that included the Montreal final and Cincinnati semis.<\/p>\n
Head-to-head: Nakashima 1-0<\/p>\n
Last played: Washington R16, 2026 Winner: Nakashima, 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4<\/p>\n
NIGHT SESSION (7 p.m.)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/H2H-Preview-Match-3-Hero.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
RAFAEL JODER (TEAM EUROPE) VS. ALEXANDER BUBLIK (TEAM WORLD)
An intriguing first-time encounter between two Laver Cup debutants \u2014 the gifted but oft-unpredictable Kazakh Alexander Bublik and 20-year-old Spanish sensation Rafael Jodar \u2014 will get the night session underway at The O2. All Jodar has done is jump 311 spots in the PIF ATP Rankings to No. 14 in a matter of one year, having nailed down his maiden tour-level title earlier this year on clay in Marrakech. The former University of Virginia star is toting a lot of expectations on his shoulders, but appears up to the task. It helps that his 6-foot-3 game is loaded with firepower and aggression. Only days after turning 20, he\u2019ll be heading into the unknown against one of the tour\u2019s true wildcards in Bublik, who earlier this year cracked the Top 10 and has proven he can beat just about anybody, Jannik Sinner included.<\/p>\n
Head-to-head: 0-0<\/p>\n
Last played: Never played<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Hero-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
JAKUB MENSIK\/CARLOS ALCARAZ (TEAM EUROPE) VS. ALEXANDER BUBLIK\/TAYLOR FRITZ (TEAM WORLD)
For the second year in a row, Yannick Noah will look to Jakub Mensik and Carlos Alcaraz to get things started on the doubles court. They answered the bell in San Francisco in 2025 with a 7-6(7), 6-4 dismissal of Team World\u2019s Alex de Minaur and Alex Michelsen. This time around, they\u2019ll be facing the first-time pairing of Taylor Fritz and Alexander Bublik. Both Mensik and Bublik will be taking the court for the second time on Day 1. Who will have the most staying power?<\/p>\n
Head-to-head: 0-0<\/p>\n
Last played: never played<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laver Cup London 2026 gets underway on Friday, September 25 with Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz and the fast-rising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[32378,23136,29090,2073,34749,15221,53697,99,2072,428,94224],"class_list":["post-859165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alexander-bublik","tag-andre-agassi","tag-brandon-nakashima","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-casper-ruud","tag-francisco-cerundolo","tag-jakub-mensik","tag-sports","tag-taylor-fritz","tag-tennis","tag-yannick-noah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}