Federer’s Farewell Set the Stage for a Successful Laver Cup

The image of Roger Federer crying next to Rafa Nadal, his great rival on the court and great friend off the court, went viral Friday — as it was Federer’s final match, and he had the honor of playing doubles with Nadal. This moment at the Laver Cup will undoubtedly become one of the most touching moments sports history.

The Laver Cup, held in London this year, was the stage chosen by the Swiss tennis player to bid his farewell to the sport he loves and fans he adores. Social media was flooded this weekend with tributes to the former ATP No. 1, including the hashtag #RForever, images throughout Federer’s historic career, and photos of his final match at the Laver Cup.

Laver Cup 2021 vs Laver Cup 2022

We analyzed the impact of Federer’s farewell on the Laver Cup’s social media networks, and the results were overwhelming: the tournament gained 175K more followers than Laver Cup 2021, an increase of 316%.

With engagement and video views, the numbers were even more spectacular. Total engagement increased 500%, reaching 9.5 million interactions compared to 1.5 million in 2021. Total video views also increased from 12.4 million to 76.3 million, a growth of 514%.

Average engagement per post increased from 2.7K in 2021 to 14.8K in 2022, while video views per post increased 7-fold, reaching 210K video views in 2022.

Laver Cup wins on Instagram

Instagram was the Laver Cup’s social network with the best numbers, in large part to follower growth and Reels. Here are some insights from the 2022 Laver Cup:

• Since Monday, September 19, Laver Cup’s Instagram added 138K new followers, the most compared with Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook.
• Instagram Reels skyrocketed to more than 47 million plays, an average of 696K plays per Reel.
• Total Reels’ engagement increased 796% during the Laver Cup event, from 388K in 2021 to 3.4 million in 2022.
• Average engagement per Reel was 67K, growing 434% compared to the 2021 Laver Cup.

Top 3 Laver Cup Posts

These are the three Laver Cup posts that drove the most engagement this weekend. They were the top three posts from the Laver Cup not only during the event, but for the year. And yes, Roger Federer was center stage in all three.