Yannick Noah will be captaining Carlos Alcaraz for Team Europe at the Laver Cup once again.
Alcaraz made his return at the US Open, where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Ben Shelton, after spending nearly five months on the sidelines due to a right wrist injury.
It was at the US Open where Alcaraz admitted that he could skip some big tournaments as a result of the current scheduling situation.
Yannick Noah has now spoken about these comments, admitting the worry he had ahead of the Laver Cup this year.
Yannick Noah admits he was worried Carlos Alcaraz might not play the Laver Cup
Noah appeared in the latest edition of the ‘Off court with Greg Rusedski‘ podcast, where he was asked about Alcaraz being part of Team Europe once again.
While the former Roland Garros champion was excited to have Alcaraz around in London, Noah suggested that he was worried that the Laver Cup could have been one of the tournaments the Spaniard decided to skip.
“It’s always a pleasure to have Carlos in the team, I love the kid, he’s a great kid, ” said Noah. “…Carlos is great to be around, he’s a great athlete, person, champion. I love being around him.
“And yes I was worried, during the tournament when the players started to talk about too many tournaments, too much travelling. So I’m like, ‘Oh, no, I need my team.’ Of course we have so many players, but I just wanted to spend some time with them.
“You know, we have revenge to take. I just saw him earlier we had a talk, right now he’s on the court practicing. So really happy to have him in the team. Not only because he can win some points, but also because he’s a very good positive energy in the team.”
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Greg Rusedski suggests if he is surprised that Carlos Alcaraz is playing the Laver Cup after recent comments
Greg Rusedski also spoke about Alcaraz, who he believes could have skipped the Laver Cup had he gone on to win the US Open title this year.
“It’s interesting, we haven’t seen [Jannik] Sinner lineup yet in the Laver Cup,” said Rusedski. “And for Alcaraz, you say ‘Okay, maybe he needs a few more matches’. He lost in the quarters of the US Open. Had he won the US Open would he have gone to play?
“[Alexander] Zverev’s a guy who likes to play almost every week, but doesn’t get injured. So he’s continuing his momentum right now. It’s a heck of a lot of prize money and it’s Roger Federer’s event, so it’s hard to say no.”
While this is not something that Rusedski was surprised by, he believes that Alcaraz needs to limit the number of exhibitions he plays in the off-season if his words about scheduling are to be taken seriously.
“For me it’s going to be interesting after the end-of-season champs how much time he takes off, does he play any exhibitions during that period?” Rusedski continued.
“If he’s playing exhibitions during that period, well then I feel like he’s not really scheduling properly. Because that’s a time to rest, recover and improve your game. Not play exhibitions. Yes, there’s a lot of money at hand, but he’s got enough of that. The question being is that’s where I feel like we’ll see if he really means that I’m going to take time off and manage my schedule better.”
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