Laver Cup Brings Innovation, Activation, Animated Avatars To Tennis Tournament

By Barry Janoff

September 18, 2025: The annual Laver Cup features six of the best men’s tennis players from Europe against six of their counterparts from the rest of the world.

That number was virtually doubled this year with the introduction of Laver Cup Animated, a fusion of live-match streaming and dynamic animated avatar overlays featuring each of the 12 players, as well as Team World captain Andre Agassi and Team Europe captain Yannick Noah.

Laver Cup Animated one of a number of innovations supporting this year’s event, also including the Laver Cup Coaching Tool and Laver Cup Hub, plus the return of the Laver Cup Bench Cam feed.

The 2025 Laver Cup takes place in Chase Center, San Francisco, Sept. 19–21, exclusively on Tennis Channel. 

“We are always exploring new ways to enhance the Laver Cup for our players and fans,” Laver Cup CEO Steve Zacks said via the tournament. “Our commitment to innovation is at the core of what we do, and we’re excited to introduce these new broadcast and digital features.

“They will provide a deeper, more engaging connection for those watching around the world and in the arena, ensuring our audience feels closer than ever to the electrifying atmosphere of the Laver Cup.”

The Laver Cup was founded by and is run under the auspices of Roger Federer and Tony Godsick’s Team 8 agency. Godsick is Federer’s agent and business partner and also CEO for the Laver Cup.

Founding partner is Rolex. Global sponsors include Alipay, Mercedes-Benz and UBS. More than 20 sponsors are supporting the tournament. (See full list here.)

The eighth edition of the Laver Cup will see Team World, under the leadership of captain Andre Agassi and vice-captain Pat Rafter with players Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur, Francisco Cerundolo, Alex Michelsen, João Fonseca and Reilly Opelka.

Team Europe will field Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Holger Rune, Casper Ruud, Jakub Mensik and Flavio Cobolli, guided by captain Yannick Noah and vice-captain Tim Henman.

Team Europe is defending champion and has won five of the first seven Laver Cups, named to honor tennis icon Rod Laver.

See full schedule here.

Alcaraz’s avatar is of-the-moment, showing his cropped blond hair.

Laver Cup Animated can be accessed via Tennis Channel’s direct-to-consumer app, with match highlights and other clips shared on Laver Cup’s YouTube channel.

Laver Cup Animated will recreate what is happening on the court, including warm-ups and every singles match.

According to tournament organizers, “By integrating skeletal tracking data with animated characters, this mixed-reality experience is designed to captivate a new generation of tennis fans, making the event more accessible and engaging, particularly for children and families.”

The Laver Cup Coaching Tool, sponsored by Perplexity, equips captains and players with real-time data. Accessed via tablet, it delivers detailed statistics, identifies trends, and highlights key insights about serve location, return placement, groundstroke errors and more, helping teams make smarter on‑court decisions.

Designed for both casual tennis enthusiasts and dedicated followers, Perplexity has created the Laver Cup Hub, a digital destination featuring live scoring and match highlights.

Perplexity will also sponsor in‑arena and broadcast insights packages, including the popular close‑call visualization.

Returning is the Laver Cup Bench Cam feed, which streams action on lavercup.com and free-to-view from the Team Europe and Team World courtside benches.

This year, it will be “significantly upgraded,” with access to team zone and player bench vision and audio. Bench Cam will see the Team captains and vice-captains mic’d up for the first time,”giving fans enhanced insight into strategy and team dynamics at the change-of-ends.”

“The Laver Cup has quickly become one of the sport’s premier events, and we’re proud to deliver it exclusively across Tennis Channel’s platforms,” Jeff Blackburn, Tennis Channel chairman and CEO, said via the media company.

“From live coverage on our networks, to streaming on our Tennis Channel app and Web site, to the launch of Laver Cup Animated, fans can experience every match and every point all weekend long.”

Each of the players receives an appearance fee based on their ATP Singles ranking as of the Monday following Roland-Garros.

Each of the six players on the winning team receives $250,000. There is no prize money awarded to members of the losing team.

Laver Cup 2026 is scheduled for London’s O2 Arena.

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