Nick Kyrgios has been left out of John McEnroe's world team to take on the might of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in next month's inaugural edition of the Laver Cup.
The Ryder Cup-style competition will put Bjorn Borg's six-man European side against the Rest of the World team coached by McEnroe, the Swede's bitter rival in the 1970s and '80s.
Next month's tournament is named in honour of Australian tennis great Rod Laver, the only man to win two calendar-year grand slams.
Borg has chosen former US Open winner Marin Cilic, Austrian Dominic Thiem, Czech Tomas Berdych and German young gun Alexander Zverev to combine with Federer and Nadal in a powerful European team.
McEnroe could not find a place for world No.18 Kyrgios, despite him reaching an ATP final in Cincinnati last week.
Instead he has opted for Juan Martin del Potro (world No.28) and teenager Denis Shapovalov (No.69) to join Canadian Milos Raonic and the American trio of John Isner, Jack Sock and Sam Querrey.
The new competition will be played in Prague from September 22-24 and 19-time grand slam champion Federer is thrilled about teaming up with long-time rival Nadal.
"Finally, after all these years, I get a chance to actually support his forehand, his aggressive play, his everything, his fighting spirit," the Swiss player said as he took a break from his US Open preparation.
"I know Rafa so well, and he's been a wonderful champion for our sport," Federer said. "So for us to spend sort of a week together on the same team and exchanging ideas of how we could win the Laver Cup, I think it's going to be really highly entertaining for both of us."
Laver said he was honoured to have a tournament named after him.
"I'm totally honoured to have this particular event named after myself," Laver said. "I thank a lot of people, but I thank Team8 and Roger Federer. Roger felt, that (early professional tennis) this was something that was important.
"I'm the throw-back to the past champions," he said. "It's a huge honour to be able to have this event as part of today's world."
McEnroe paid tribute to Laver, the only man to win two calendar-year grand slams, the last in 1969.
"This man right here, was my idol growing up," McEnroe said. "We are looking to do something big here along the lines of the Ryder Cup in golf, and I think this is a magnificent way to try to get this going."
"I'm excited and very happy that I was asked to captain this team for the next three years, the first one being in Prague and then hopefully in New York next year, perhaps, but we'll see," he said.
"It's going to be awesome. I think this event is going to grow and grow."
Share
