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Australia may have failed in their campaign to reach the Davis Cup’s elite group of 16 for next year but captain John Fitzgerald will leave Chile full of optimism about the country’s future prospects in men’s tennis.
A 3-2 loss to Chile in a World Group Play-Off in the coastal mining town Antofagasta has consigned Australia to yet another year in the second-tier Asia-Oceania division.
World No.11 Fernando Gonzalez disposed of tall left-hander Chris Guccione – Australia’s spearhead in the absence of Lleyton Hewitt – in straight sets in a reverse singles match to seal the claycourt victory in front of his home crowd.
Guccione, ranked No.80 in the world, was far from disgraced in the 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 6-3 defeat and played much better than Friday when he lost in four sets to Nicolas Massu.
Fitzgerald said it was the most optimistic he had felt about Australian men’s tennis in two years following the emergence of Carsten Ball in his Cup debut.
The 21-year-old son of former Australian Davis Cup player Syd Ball now has a perfect record in the competition after combining with Guccione to defeat Olympic silver medallist Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu in the doubles and beating world No.133 Paul Capdeville in a dead rubber singles match.
“I saw some people say we wouldn’t win a match but we didn’t come here to be a gallant loser,” Fitzgerald told AAP.
“We came to try and win but we take a heck of a lot away from here.
“I can’t stress that enough because I just have a lot of good feelings about where we’re headed now.
“You never leave with a smile on your face completely when you don’t win but there are certainly the beginnings of a smile on my face after we lost 3-2 in the end.
“The big positives are that we have the beginnings of a core group which really give us hope and for me it’s the most exciting tie for two years.
“I can see the light at the end of the tunnel is a lot brighter now than six months ago.”
Asked whether Australia would have won the tie with Hewitt, who is recovering from season-ending hip surgery, leading the team, Fitzgerald replied: “That’s another big if.
“Of course we miss him and it changes the make-up of the team drastically when he moves into the fold.”
Fitzgerald called for patience as Australian men’s tennis goes through a transitional phase in its battle to break out of the Asia-Oceania division.
“We’re a proud tennis nation, we don’t want to be there, but you have to develop the young kids,” he said.
“Australian tennis is getting a lot of criticism because we don’t have multitudes of world-ranked players, but it takes time.
“We understand we have to ride the wave out of here and pick up momentum and not just get back into the World Group but get back in a competitive frame of mind.”
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