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The 25-year-old last played a competitive match
at Acapulco in February after deciding to remain at home in
Australia when the circuit resumed in Europe and North America
after a hiatus.
Each nation have two singles slots that will be taken by their
top-ranked players and Australia's challenge at the ATP Cup will
be led by Alex de Minaur and John Millman who are ranked 23 and
38, respectively.
The duo will be joined by doubles players John Peers and Luke
Saville as Australia look to improve on their semi-final finish
at last year's inaugural tournament.
The ATP Cup will be held from Feb. 1-5 in Melbourne ahead of the
Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam, and the event will
feature world number one Novak Djokovic and second-ranked Rafa
Nadal.
"The players are looking forward to stepping up and representing
their countries again, and the field, including defending
champions Serbia and finalists Spain, is strong," tournament
director Tom Larner said.
"This is a format that shows off the passion of the players and
we're expecting some spectacular tennis action."
The draw for the ATP Cup will take place on Jan. 20.
Kyrgios, often branded "polarising" for his long rap sheet of
indiscretions, had been a galvanising force in raising funds and
awareness for Australian bushfire relief efforts during the ATP
Cup last year.
He will now play in Melbourne 2, one of two ATP 250 events being
held alongside the ATP Cup. Melbourne Park is also hosting two
WTA 500 tournaments alongside the event.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by
Lincoln Feast.)
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