Berdych chosen by Borg for Laver Cup

Europe team captain Bjorn Borg has added Tomas Berdych to his lineup for the inaugural Laver Cup tennis tournament.

Tomas Berdych

Tomas Berdych has been added to the Europe team for the inaugural Laver Cup. (AAP)

Czech tennis player Tomas Berdych will join Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on the Europe side to face the Rest of the World next month at the inaugural edition of the Laver Cup.

Captain Bjorn Borg announced on Tuesday that Berdych will join the host side for the Ryder Cup-style event pitting a six-man Europe side coached by tennis great Borg against John McEnroe's opposition.

McEnroe's team will include Americans Sam Querrey, Jack Sock and John Isner as well as Canada'a Milos Raonic. There are late hopes of trying to convince Australian Nick Kyrgios to participate.

Borg's selection will feature backups for Federer and Nadal in the form of Marin Cilic and Dominic Thiem for the September 22-24 competition to be played in Prague.

"Tomas signalled early he wanted to be part of this innovative new tournament and I'm delighted he will be joining the team," Borg said.

"It shows the depth in our line-up when we can add a quality player who made last month's Wimbledon semi-finals as a captain's pick."

Berdych, 31 and a 2010 Wimbledon runner-up, has been a consistent performer throughout his career. The Czech has played seven grand slam semi-finals and has reached the last four at all of the majors.

"I've known some of my teammates for a very long time and have a lot of respect for all of them," Berdych said.

"To play alongside them in an event like this will be a different experience and I can't wait to be part of it.

"To play in my home city of Prague in front of our amazing Czech fans just makes it even more special."

Final team selections will be made in the coming weeks.

The tournament is named in honour of Australian tennis great Rod Laver, the only man to win two calendar-year grand slams.


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Source: AAP



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