Lleyton Hewitt has blasted rumours of the Davis Cup moving to Abu Dhabi for the next five years, as well as the new format of the tournament as a whole.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” he said after Australia’s loss to Croatia.
“It’s not what Davis Cup is about. I have been pretty vocal about the whole thing for the last three or four years now.”
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The new format of the Davis Cup works in the same vein as a football or cricket world cup, with host cities, rather than the previous format. Australia played Croatia in Turin, Italy.
“This is a wonderful stadium, but yeah, it’s not a massive crowd. That’s not what Davis Cup is about.
“I just feel some of my greatest memories are playing in Davis Cup, semis and finals in front of packed houses,” he said
“Didn’t matter if it was in Australia or if it was Hawaii. The atmosphere was incredible. Sometimes the away ties were nearly as special because you had to find a way to be able to gel together as a team.”
The previous best-of-five formats between two countries also saw matches go to five sets – which is also no longer the case.
“Davis Cup was held in the highest regard because it was up there with the pinnacle of our sport in men’s tennis, which was five sets. Grand Slams and Davis Cup, they are the only ones that played five sets,” Hewitt said.
“We threw that out the door, and now we are throwing the home and away out the door, as well. Playing a qualifying tie here or there, best-of-three sets, is not the same as having home-and-away main draw matches throughout the year.”
He spoke after Australia endured a horror start to their Davis Cup finals campaign, losing their opening tie to Croatia in emphatic fashion.
The format of the 18-team tournament sees each of the six group winners advance to the knockout stage, as well as the best two second-placed teams. Lleyton Hewitt’s men now need to quickly regroup before they play Hungary in two days’ time.
But even a perfect result in that tie may not be enough – because of the cutthroat nature of the group stage, every match, set, and game is vital – and losing all three matches and only one set across them puts Australia firmly behind the eight ball.
First, Borna Gojo beat Alexei Popyrin in straight sets, 7-6, 7-5, before Alex de Minaur lost to Marin Cilic in three, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
“Yeah, could have been a different story if Alexei took some of those chances early in the first set, but then Borna got confident as the match went on, especially after he won the first set, which put a little bit more pressure on Alexei,” Hewitt told reporters afterwards.
Then Marin played incredible first set and a half, didn’t put a foot wrong. Alex did extremely well to hang in there, tried to find a way to get back in the match. In the end he turned it into his favour. Marin got a little bit tight towards the end of the second set trying to close it out.”
Alex Bolt was originally nominated to partner John Peers in the doubles match against Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, but was replaced by De Minaur at the last minute.
The Croatians won easily, 6-3, 6-1.
“The doubles, well, they are the World number one team for a reason. It just felt like everything they touched tonight went their way,” Hewitt said.
It’s the second iteration of the tournament in its current format. Australia lost at the quarter-final stage in 2019.
In the other two opening group stage matches played this morning (AEDT), Sweden won a perfect six sets out of six against Canada, while France and the Czech Republic traded singles wins before the French won the doubles.
“I managed to somehow sneak that second set, and I’m just disappointed I wasn’t able to consolidate the break and get a point for Australia,” de Minaur said.
“That’s what really hurts me. If I go out there and I finish the job in that sense and can come away with the win, then maybe this doubles is completely different. There is a lot to play for, and so it is disappointing.
“I left it all out there, but sometimes it’s not enough.”
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