GENEVA — Ultimately, it is immaterial whether you call the Laver Cup an exhibition or grace it with a weightier label.

What counts most at this muddled stage in men’s tennis is that the Laver Cup clearly matters to many leading players — and not just its co-creator Roger Federer, who played like a champ and swore like a sailor with the trophy on the line Sunday.

The Cup fires players up and chokes them up while paying them very well and selling out arenas on, so far, two continents. What’s not to like?

That passion, like the big money required to stage this high-end tennis circus, is a fragile commodity, however, and it will be up to future stars to determine what floats or sinks amid tennis’s new team-event logjam.