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Lleyton Hewitt is weighing up when – not if – to take up the Australian Davis Cup captaincy following his second-round exit from the Australian Open.
Hewitt has long been groomed for the role, with a succession plan already in place as current captain Pat Rafter prepares to take over as Tennis Australia’s head of player performance on February 1.
Rafter will fill both positions until Hewitt decides to step up, with the former world No.1’s more immediate objective being helping Australia retain its World Group status with victory over the Czech Republic in Ostrava from March 6-8.
“We have a good chance to possibly pull off an upset away. That’s the next focus,” Hewitt said after his five-set Open loss to Benjamin Becker.
Turning 34 next month, Hewitt acknowledges a 20th straight Open tilt next year would be the perfect Melbourne Park swan song as a player.
But he’s refusing to make any promises, saying he genuinely doesn’t know for how much longer he’ll carry on beyond the March Davis Cup tie.
The father of three had all his family and close friends at Rod Laver Arena on Thursday night, with Rafter and his wife and children also in the stands for the baseline warrior’s possible last Open campaign.
The only certainty, according to two-time Davis Cup winner Todd Woodbridge, is that Australia’s future in the competition is in good hands with Hewitt as captain-in-waiting.
“It’s a great result,” Woodbridge told AAP.
“You’ve got no one more passionate about it, no one with more experience.
“It’s probably important, though, that he gets a brief period to sit back and take in his own career before taking that one straight on.
“That’s even probably been discussed between himself and Pat.
“But I think it’s just a natural that he’d move into that space.”
Hewitt owns a host of Davis Cup records, eclipsing Woodbridge as Australia’s longest-serving player with 38 ties over 16 years.
He’s also won more Davis Cup matches than any other Australian, boasting a 56-18 win-loss record overall and 41-14 in singles.
He remains an integral doubles option, but the long-time spearhead can no longer command a singles spot ahead of higher-ranked young guns Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic, not to mention the resurgent Sam Groth, who beat Hewitt in Brisbane this month, and rising teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis.
“The good thing now is we have a lot of options,” Hewitt said.
“It’s a key, I think, to trying to win Davis Cup ties, especially in the World Group. You need options.
“Obviously it would be great to play when Nick and Bernie and Thanasi are possibly top 10, top 20 players, you get a free ride winning Davis Cups.
“That ain’t going to happen straightaway. I’ve always said that for me to stick around in Davis Cup is to help these guys more as a mentor, teach them what Davis Cup’s all about.
“So far I’ve been able to do that from I guess my dedication on the practice court and the match court playing for Australia.”
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