Need more tennis after Ash Barty‘s triumph at the Australian Open? Well, catch the country’s best male tennis players in action this weekend as Australia takes on Hungary for a place in the 2022 Davis Cup Finals.
Headed by captain Lleyton Hewitt, Team Australia will be hoping to replicate the form that saw them topple Hungary 2-1 during the round-robin stage at last year’s World Group Finals.
Due to the wet conditions hampering the east coast, the tournament will be the first-ever Davis Cup Cup tie played under a roof at Ken Rosewall Arena.
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With sporting events thrown into chaos by the extreme weather, Hewitt said the matches were fortunate to go ahead while sending a heartfelt message to those impacted by the flood crisis.
“We’re obviously feeling some of the rain here, and the impact at Sydney Olympic Park, having to train indoors every day,” he told Ben Fordham on 2GB.
“We’re lucky we’ve got a roof on Ken Rosewall Arena, otherwise we’d be in a bit of trouble.
“But our hearts, our thoughts and prayers go out to all those in Queensland and New South Wales with what they’re dealing with.
“Some of the pictures are pretty distressing, to see what these people are going through.
“I know the tennis community will be doing everything in their power to try and raise funds at some stage to try and help out.”
Hewitt also addressed recent doubles Grand Slam winner Nick Kyrgios‘ omission from the team.
“It’s a bit of a shame, we did want Nick part of the team. Rochey (Tony Roche) and I offered him a spot but he made himself unavailable for this particular tie,” he said.
“I think he had some prior commitments that he’d organised over in America, that he had to go and see before Indian Wells. That obviously made it tough.
“It would have been nice, obviously Nick is such a talented player, and to have him potentially play singles and also doubles, on the back of winning the Australian Open with his good mate Thanasi Kokkinakis.
“It was a shame that it couldn’t work out for this tie, but hopefully in future, he’ll be back in the squad.”
Australia’s Alex de Minaur defeated Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics in three exhausting hours at last year’s Davis Cup Final, however it wasn’t enough to send Australia through to the knockout stages.
Hewitt predicted this year’s matchup would be just as difficult but believes his men have the knack for the task ahead.
“This will be a really tough tie against Hungary, we played them in the Davis Cup Finals at the end of the last year, we were lucky to get over the line 2-1 in that one, their No.1 player, Marton Fucsovics, is (top-40) in the world, he’s a quality singles and doubles player.
“We sense a real opportunity here for us to push through to the Davis Cup Finals yet again.
“It’s been great to have this group of young players, they’re just wanting to wear the green and gold with pride.”
“I fully back them to get the job done, it’s not going to be easy.
“We’ve got to win three of the five matches to get through, but I couldn’t have asked for a better team culture, the way they’ve gone about it has been fantastic, they’re going to leave it all out there for sure.”
Twenty-four nations will compete in Davis Cup Qualifiers around the world between 4-5 March. The 12 victorious nations will then progress to the Davis Cup Finals in September, while the losing 12 will compete in a World Group I tie.
SCHEDULE
Australia’s bid for the Davis Cup Finals kicks off at Sydney Olympic Park on Friday 4 March and Saturday 5 March. Across both days, members of the Aussie team will take on an opposing player/s from Hungary in either doubles or singles format.
TEAMS LIST
Australia: Alex de Minaur, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Alexei Popyrin, John Peers, Luke Saville
Captain: Lleyton Hewitt
Australia’s top-ranked male player Alex de Minaur will lead the charge alongside recent Australian Open doubles champion Thanasi Kokkinakis, rising star Alexei Popyrin and doubles experts John Peers and Luke Saville. This will be Saville’s first opportunity to represent Australia at Davis Cup.
Hungary: Marton Fucsovics, Zsombor Piros, Fabian Marozsan, Mate Valkusz, Peter Fajta
Captain: Zoltan Nagy
Top-40 player Marton Fucsovics will headline the Hungarian team.
ORDER OF PLAY
Friday 4 March, Two singles matches from 5:00pm (AEDT)
Saturday 5 March, Doubles match followed by two reverse singles matches from 1:00pm (AEDT)
HOW TO WATCH
The Davis Cup Qualifier will be shown LIVE on 9Gem and 9Now.
WHERE TO BUY TICKETS
Tickets to the Davis Cup Qualifier are available through Ticketmaster. Prices are $29 per person, with kids under 14 permitted to attend for free.
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