It may be over 40 years since he last struck a tennis ball in anger, but Rod Laver remains one of the most recognisable figures in world of tennis. Which is why it seems fitting that the 2022 Laver Cup will be remembered as the final hurrah for another tennis great. And one of the few players in the sport’s history whose achievements match even those of the Australian known as ‘The Rocket’, that man is Roger Federer.
The Laver Cup is an annual contest involving the top six players in Europe and opponents drawn from across the world. The winners of the three-day event, then lift one of the sport’s greatest prizes, and a trophy that we know intimately here at Thomas Lyte.
Played on an annual basis, two weeks after the completion of the US Open, the tournament is a race to the 13 points required to win or retain a trophy that has been exclusively in European hands since it was introduced.
The 2022 event will be especially memorable as a result of Roger Federer – the winner of a jaw-dropping 20 Grand Slam titles – retiring after the event.
Being held at the O2 in London, this season’s Laver Cup represents a passing of the torch in modern tennis. Since he won his first Grand Slam in 2003 – the Wimbledon crown which he monopolised for much of the next two decades – Federer has been one of the dominant forces in world tennis during a golden era for the sport.
For many he turned tennis into an art-form, playing with a poise and grace that will endure long after he has put his racket away for the final time.
The Laver Cup is a fitting platform for the Swiss to say goodbye, and for those who have idolised him on court to do likewise.
The trophy itself is a reflection of the Laver Cup’s ever-growing importance in the modern tennis calendar.
It’s no wonder that Team Europe are so reluctant to give it up.
It’s a striking piece of silverware and one which contains a number of distinctive characteristics that make it stand out amongst some of the sport’s other great prizes.
Beautifully hand-crafted in sterling silver at our London-based silver workshops, it is designed to resemble a Rocket, in honour of Laver – it was his moniker throughout his career – who was born in the Queensland town of Rockhampton on Australia’s east coast in 1938.
Designed by London-based Designwerk, the Laver Cup pays homage to Laver, not just in its shape but in many of the features which make it so unique.
Around the rim, for example, there are 200 individually-carved notches, with each one representing one of the singles tournaments won by the Australian during his extraordinary 23-year career. On the base, meanwhile, sit two sets of four rings, signifying Laver’s incredible feats in 1962 and 1969, when he won all four Grand Slams – Wimbledon, US Open, French Open and his home event in Australia.
Even now, he remains the only player to have done it once, let alone twice.
The carved arms on the side of the Cup, which was lifted for the first time by a Team Europe side captained by Bjorn Borg in Prague in 2017, again carry great significance, denoting rivals becoming team-mates – the over-riding principle that governs the ethos of the competition.
Another twist in this remarkable trophy’s tale comes from the fact that it has been partly formed by the melting down of the New England Merchant Bank Trophy, a tournament that Laver won back in 1967. The molten metal from all those years ago adds yet another layer to an exquisite trophy that stands 66cm high, weighing 14kgs.
Laver’s feats will always remain the stuff of legend. But Federer, who’s career comes to a close this weekend, and whose longevity equals that of his Australian contemporary, has carved out a deserved place in tennis’s pantheon of greats.
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