Coco Gauff has urged Roger Federer to introduce a women’s Laver Cup, pitting the best American players against their rivals from around the world.
Federer owns and helped to create the Laver Cup, an annual event which sees Team Europe go up against Team World. At the moment, only men are invited to take part but Gauff believes a women’s version should be created.
The former US Open champion is one of four American players currently residing in the top 10 of the WTA rankings. She is joined by Jessica Pegula, Emma Navarro and newly-crowned Australian Open winner Madison Keys.
Taking to Instagram to celebrate the achievement, Gauff went a step further by calling for the introduction of a women’s Laver Cup.
On her story, the 20-year-old shared an image of the American quartet alongside the caption: “USA vs World Laver Cup????”
It remains to be seen if Gauff will see her wish granted at some point in the future, with the prospect of a female Laver Cup having already been discussed.
Tony Godsick, who worked alongside Federer to create the tournament, spoke about the possibility of introducing a women’s event last year.
“It will take a little time to think about a fitting format for a tournament with women,” he said. “First of all, we want to reach our full potential with the Laver Cup for men, then we will look at various possibilities.
“I think we would have to name and organise it differently, but the format works. Hopefully we can come up with something in the future.
“It is our aim to be like the Ryder Cup in golf, but the Ryder Cup is 90 years ahead of us.”
Over the years, there have been suggestions that women could take part in the existing Laver Cup as a mixed-gender event. Godsick, however, was quick to play down the idea.
“Look, there already exists the Hopman Cup,” he explained. “I don’t know what shape and form or when it actually takes place now, but there is an event.
“I think it’s now in the spring or in the summer, it used to be in January before the Australian Open, which combines men and women. The format is very important in this one and we spent a lot of time before we started, making sure, we tried to get it right.
“We didn’t know it would be as successful and it would sort of hit and stick as well as it did, but I think all of a sudden if we change this and added women to it, it would sort of be like the Hopman Cup that kind of exists already.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk