Laver Cup: Yannick Noah ready to get ‘serious’ as Team Europe captain and aims to build ‘team spirit’ between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev

Yannick Noah said that he was “honoured” to be passed the mantle of captain of Team Europe at the Laver Cup. 

Noah, the 1983 French Open champion, joined the TNT Sports studio to discuss the upcoming event alongside TNT Sports pundit Tim Henman, who will be his vice-captain. 

Noah takes over the reins from Bjorn Borg, who had captained Team Europe for seven years, and the Frenchman said that he had received plentiful advice from the Swede about how to go about his new role. 

The Laver Cup, which was co-founded in 2017 by Roger Federer, sees a Ryder Cup-esque team tournament take place between two sides representing Europe and the other representing the rest of the world.

The tournament includes both singles and doubles matches, uniting the players at the top of the men’s rankings into two teams.

The former world No. 3 joked about the fact that he was holidaying when he received the call asking him if he would like to be considered for the captaincy. 

“I was by the beach in Cameroon, and then all of a sudden, I got a text saying, ‘Yannick, we’ve been thinking about you for the Laver Cup.’” he said. 

“I said, you want me to be a ball boy? I was so surprised. It was so unexpected. Then I got a call saying, ‘We talked with Roger. It’d be nice if you were captain.’ I said, ‘Serious? Why me from all these guys?’.

“I said I’d be honoured, and that’s how it started. I was so honoured to be picked up.  We then spoke about having someone – I’m the captain – but the real captain is [Tim], because he’s the one that really knows tennis. I’m there for the atmosphere. I’m really happy to share this experience with him.

“Being captain of Europe is a big deal. I was by the beach, and now it’s kicked in. It’s serious. I went to Berlin last year to meet the guys and see how it works, feel the inside of the Laver Cup. I’m really excited. I want to win. Let’s do it.”

Noah emphasised the importance of harnessing a team spirit that unifies the continent’s top players, with names like Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev so used to facing each other individually on the tour rather than being on the same side. 

“It’s a special event,” Noah continued.

“These guys are used to competing against each other. It’s very long, it’s very intense. They’re very close in the rankings. Carlos is No. 2. Sascha [Zverev] is No. 3. All the guys are competing all year long. 

“The whole idea is to get together and build a team spirit. We are going to have the energy between Yannick Noah and Tim Henman. He knows the game. He’s going to help me out. The objective of the week is that the team comes together, forget about the competition individually during the year, and try to win for Europe.”

Noah praised the role that Borg had played in ensuring a smooth transition into the hotseat. 

“He’s been captain for years,” Noah said.

“He gave me some good advice on how to approach the whole thing. Bjorn is a good friend of mine. I’m sorry, I didn’t take your spot, you gave it to me. We had a nice moment with the players where I just got to get to know them as kids. 

“I realised they were so young, or I’m old. It was very important to go to Berlin and get to know them.”

TNT Sports expert Henman, who faced Noah six times in his career, beating him on five occasions, was “speechless” when he got the call to ask him whether he wanted to be vice-captain.

“It was completely out of the blue, I wasn’t expecting it at all,” Henman said.

“Tony [Godsick] called me and said, how about it? I was speechless for about five or ten seconds. It didn’t take me long to say that I’d be honoured to be a part of Team Europe with Yannick. 

“The first Laver Cup I went to was in London when Roger was retiring. To see it at the O2, with that atmosphere, to see the passion and competition amongst the players, I was very taken by surprise. I could not be more excited to be a part of it.”

Henman discussed the selection process, and name-checked one of this year’s French Open semi-finalists.

“Lorenzo Musetti has been playing brilliantly,” he said. 

“That’s the beauty of it, that there’s still flexibility. We’re well aware of the world team. It looks like a very balanced and very competitive event. They have the opportunity of playing themselves into contention and that’s what makes it exciting. The event is not until the second week of September. A lot can happen before then.”

Henman concurred with Noah about there needing to be a cohesive unit in order to beat Team World, who will be headed up by Andre Agassi.

“It’s about building that bond amongst our team,” Henman continued.

“They are individuals for so much of the year, but to bring them together and see that camaraderie on the side of the court when a singles or doubles match is going on is massively important. 

“Team World, led by Agassi and Pat Rafter, are going to be doing the same. They are passionate about the sport and winning. We understand that the competition is going to be fierce, but we’re going to be ready for it.”