John McEnroe ‘disappointed’ and ‘surprised’ as he claims the Laver Cup have given the Europeans an advantage

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Andre Agassi replaced John McEnroe as Team World captain ahead of the 2025 Laver Cup.

Seven-time Grand Slam winner McEnroe led Team World into battle against Bjorn Borg’s Team Europe from 2017 to 2024.

This year, however, he will be watching from the sidelines, with his fellow American Agassi taking his place.

Still a keen supporter of Team World, McEnroe was in attendance on Friday evening as the side fell 3-1 behind against the Europeans.

After watching the first match of the day, McEnroe made a bold claim about the Laver Cup organizers, suggesting they have given Team Europe an advantage once again.

John McEnroe is ‘surprised and disappointed’ that the Laver Cup courts favor Team Europe

Speaking to the media after Casper Ruud beat Reilly Opelka in the first match of the 2025 Laver Cup, McEnroe had this to say about the court conditions.

“The courts are too slow, as far as I’m concerned; it favors the Europeans,” he said.

“They’re more patient than we generally are, I’m speaking for myself.

“I’m surprised and disappointed [that they haven’t changed the courts].”

McEnroe wasn’t the only one to comment on the courts, as Opelka shared his thoughts on the ‘unique’ surface after his match.

“I don’t know if it’s the surface or the ball or the combination, but it’s quite unique,” he said.

“It’s just bizarre. It’s kind of like a sandpaper surface with a ball that really puffs up. 

“It works for both sides. Yeah, I might not get 25 aces on this surface, but I’m also going to get some more chances and second, third chances at points that I normally wouldn’t.

“It’s slower than any other court you’ll find in tennis.”

McEnroe believes that the court conditions favor Team Europe, the side that dominated the first few editions of the Laver Cup.

Reflecting on Team World’s struggles, McEnroe has now revealed whether he was worried he wouldn’t be able to lead his team to victory against the Europeans.

John McEnroe says Team World felt like the Washington Generals at the Laver Cup

Appearing as a guest on Andy Roddick’s ‘Served’ podcast, McEnroe shared how he felt during the first four Laver Cup tournaments.

“Yeah, probably at three or four, I started to feel like the Washington Generals, playing the [Harlem] Globetrotters, because we were close but no cigar,” he said.

“It did sort of feel like we were running uphill a little bit, nine of the top ten would be from Europe, how are we going to do this?

“To the player’s credit, they kept battling, and we weren’t giving up or giving in.”

After losing the first four Laver Cups, McEnroe and Team World finally got over the line in 2022.

• 2017 Laver Cup – Team Europe defeated Team World (15-9)
• 2018 Laver Cup – Team Europe defeated Team World (13-8)
• 2019 Laver Cup – Team Europe defeated Team World (13-11)
• 2021 Laver Cup – Team Europe defeated Team World (14-1)

“But you get a little bit of luck, that final day in London, it looked terrible, here we go again, we’re going to be 0-5, then all of a sudden, we convince Felix [Auger-Aliassime] to play doubles, a good warm up, he doesn’t really play doubles, he won that,” said McEnroe.

“He beat Novak [Djokovic], that was the year that Roger [Federer] and Rafa [Nadal] played. That was the last match that Roger played in the doubles. We were down a match point there, people say ‘Why didn’t you let those guys win?’, I go, they did ok! We need the point.

“So, then Frances [Tiafoe] played [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, and we had the best celebration we ever had, we finally let it all hang out, and it was incredible.”

Defending their title in 2023, Team World came painfully close to winning three in a row at last year’s Laver Cup.

“We were so close last year, two games away. Frances was playing [Alexander] Zverev, damn that guy!” said McEnroe.

“I think he’s played five of the seven, and the two he didn’t play, we won. Screw you! And Frances was a set and 4-3 serving, all he had to do was hold twice, even now, a year later, I think what I should have said to him to get him over that hump.

“You always wonder about the what-ifs. Then the last match, turns out this guy Carlos Alcaraz is pretty good, he played Taylor, and Taylor fought and fought and fought, Alcaraz was playing incredibly.

“We were down a set and 4-2, 5-3, and he broke back, and we were like, oh my god, maybe Taylor can pull the rabbit out of the hat, but he kept his cool…”

Having led 11-7 earlier on day three, Team World fell to defeat against the Europeans 13-11 in 2024.

Only time will tell if they can reclaim their title this year, but you certainly won’t want to miss any of the action as the Laver Cup continues on Saturday, September 20.