PRAGUE: Tomas Berdych became the latest player to pull out of Czech Republic's first-round Davis Cup tie in Australia on March 3-5, he announced after making it through to the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.
The 31-year-old world number 10 beat Ryan Harrison to set up a third-round clash in Melbourne with Roger Federer and said he needed some rest and wanted to focus on his ATP season.
Czech Davis Cup captain Jaroslav Navratil has already had to discount world number 86 Adam Pavlasek over a wrist injury and 118th-ranked Lukas Rosol, coming back from an Achilles tendon injury.
World number 53 Jiri Vesely is expected to lead the Czech team, paired with 102nd-ranked veteran Radek Stepanek.
Navratil is likely to also call up 154th-ranked Jan Satral and 238th-ranked Zdenek Kolar for their Davis Cup debut.
"This is reality. I am still talking to players who might go and I will announce the team next week," Navratil told the Czech news agency CTK.
Led by Berdych and Stepanek, the Czechs won the Davis Cup in 2012 and 2013 and reached the semi-finals in 2014, scoring an impressive 11-tie winning streak on the way.
Berdych was once an exception among top players as he rarely skipped the team competition, but he has appeared in a single tie since 2014.
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