Usually held annually since 2017,[1] the tournament is intended to be the Ryder Cup of the tennis world.

[3] In addition to the guaranteed participation fees which are based upon the players' ATP rankings, each member of the winning team receives $250,000 in prize money, but the tournament itself does not count towards the players' point totals in the ATP Tour for that year.

The competition pits six top European players against six of their counterparts from the rest of the world.

Three of the six players qualify based on their ATP singles ranking as of the Monday following the French Open in June.

[3] The tournament is named after Australian Rod Laver, a tennis player widely regarded as one of the greatest in the history of the sport (He won all four major titles in the same calendar year, winning the Grand Slam twice in singles, in 1962 and 1969; the latter remains the only time a man has done so in the Open Era.)

Roger Federer's management company, TEAM8, Brazilian businessman Jorge Paulo Lemann, and Tennis Australia partnered to create the Laver Cup.

[10] Roger Federer was inspired to create a tennis team tournament based on the biennial Ryder Cup golf tournament, which features the best golfers from the United States playing against the best golfers from Europe.

[11] However, Laver Cup differs as it is purely an invitational event based on past historical performances; selection of (and the playing agreement with) the tournament participants are not automatically based from the highest ranked players of the recent ATP Tour world rankings.

The eighth edition will be held in San Francisco from 19 to 21 September 2025, at Chase Center.