Team of greats, but Kyrgios not invited
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 pit 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 the throwback to the past champions,” he said.
McEnroe paid tribute to Laver. “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.”