Tennis launches Laver Cup team event

Male players from Europe will face the best from the rest of the world over three days in singles and doubles, starting in September 2017, though it will not be played in Summer Olympic years.

The six-person teams, led by a great of the sport from each region, will comprise four players qualified via the ATP World Tour rankings and two captain's picks, with the inaugural edition of the event set to be staged in Europe.

The selection process is similar to golf's Ryder Cup, played biennially between Europe and the United States.

Australian tennis great Rod Laver, Team8 president and CEO Tony Godsick, Tennis Australia (TA) president Steve Healy and TA chief executive and Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley were in attendance on Friday.

"I am deeply honoured that Team8, Tennis Australia and Jorge Paulo [Lemann] have seen fit to give my name to this wonderful new development in tennis," Laver said, referring to Brazilian businessman Lemann, a former Brazil and Switzerland Davis Cup player who is providing financial backing to the event.

"I can see this becoming a very important part of the experience of being a top global player, with the world's best longing to earn the right to participate and thriving in this style of competition.

"It's so good to see the sport of tennis finally develop a proper counterpart event to the Ryder Cup. It will be fantastic for both players and fans, and it's a crowning privilege for me to be associated with this new competition."

Each day is set to see three singles and one doubles match played, with each contest played as the best of three sets.

If the event is tied through three days, a doubles match will decide the winner.

Laver is regarded as one of the sport's greats, winning 11 grand slam singles titles in the 1960s.