Duesseldorf (pps) Spain's David Ferrer and Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, two of the world's best tennis professionals, have announced their participation in the ARAG WORLD TEAM CUP to be carried out on May
18-24 at the Duesseldorf Rochusclub. Ferrer (25) is currently ranked fifth on the ATP World ranking, 22-year-old Berdych holds tenth place.

Ferrer celebrated his so far most important success at the end of the 2007 season in Shanghai when he reached the ATP Masters Cup final of the world's top eight tennis players. He was then defeated by no other than Roger Federer. Additionally, Ferrer won three ATP Tour tournaments and concluded the year with an impressive career-best of 61 matches won. At the 2008 Australian Open, Ferrer reached the quarter-finals but then had to bow to the eventual winner Novak Djokovic.

Tomas Berdych won the 2007 event in Halle (Germany) and reached the ARAG WORLD TEAM CUP final last year. However, they lost the final 1-2 to Argentina.

Both Berdych and Ferrer will play at the ARAG WORLD TEAM Cup in Duesseldorf for the fourth consecutive time since 2005. Last year, Ferrer won all four matches (three singles and one doubles match). While the Czech Republic will probably name Radek Stepanek (ranked 29) as the second singles player, all is still up in the air with the Spanish team.

Defending champions Argentina have already named 30-year-old Guillermo Canas to compete in the 2008 ARAG WORLD TEAM CUP. The right-handed player is currently ranked No. 15 in the world. He caused quite a stir last year when he defeated Roger Federer twice within just two weeks at the Masters tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. However, Canas was ousted in Indian Wells last week by the eventual winner Novak Djokovic in the round of 16 match.

The second singles player for Argentina has not been named yet. Possible candidates among the top clay court specialists are, for instance, the "old hand" Juan Ignacio Chela and "newcomer" Juan Monaco. But since the South Americans are known to create last-minute surprises with regard to their team - just as they did in 2003 and again in 2006, it is also still in the realms of possibility that top ten player David Nabaldian will compete at the Tennis World Team Championship.

At this year's Tennis World Team Championship a new system will be introduced. A tie between two teams will be played over two days so that each team will now play on every day. Spectators at the Duesseldorf Rochusclub as well as at home in front of their TV can be certain that Germany's top players, too, will play daily during the round robin stage.