Laver Cup

Laver Cup is a team-based tennis competition pitting Europe against the Rest of the World. Despite the intense rivalry between the world’s leading players, the tournament was historically perceived as an end-of-season friendly. Laver Cup turned to music and sonic branding to amplify the “rivalry” and provide a high-quality fan experience to match premium ticket prices.

The core creative concept at the heart of the music was THE DUEL. It is designed to represent an intense battle between the teams and players on court and heighten drama in the arena.

The concept is evidenced in different elements of the musical execution. The choice of instruments is designed to characterise the two teams. Team Europe is represented by classical orchestral instruments – a familiar western sound, rooted in the classical musical tradition. Team World (traditionally made up largely of Australians and North American players) is represented by modern electronic instruments and production techniques. The structure of the music is designed to mimic the tennis rally and further represent the DUEL concept. A call and response motif is passed between Team Europe and Team World instruments, as well as a choir singing in Latin, a common foundational language.

The music was designed specifically to accompany key moments in the tournament and amplify the experience of the players and spectators. The live recording of the orchestra and choir adds quality to the musical recording and the use of Latin elevates the linguistics above common sporting chants.

Drama and suspense was built up during a loopable version of the player walk-ons, where the world’s best players are introduced to the crowd one by one. A version was created for the Light and Sound show which preceded the night’s action. In-play cutdowns provided short snippets of branded music to maintain excitement in between points and during changeovers.