Dear Lleyton: Nick Kyrgios must be selected for Australia's Davis Cup team

News of Nick Kyrgios being omitted from next month’s Davis Cup tie against Hungary by team captain Lleyton Hewitt broke in the last couple of days.

It was news that didn’t shock many considering the form of Nick’s Australian Open doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis in both forms of the game.

Kokkinakis, who began 2022 with just a solitary tour title to his name, has added two more – one in singles, one in doubles – not even 40 days into the season. Regardless of what he goes on to achieve in his career, the 25-year-old is now a grand slam champion.

He’s back from multiple injuries – both physical and mental – and looking like he’s on the road to fulfilling his enormous potential.

But here’s the problem with anointing Thanasi as the No. 2 choice for Davis Cup singles: put simply, he is not Nick Kyrgios.

That’s a good thing in some ways. Two Kyrgioses on tour would surely be at least one too many.

The thing is, however, that Kyrgios is a much better, much more talented tennis player. His current world ranking of 122 notwithstanding, he’s comfortably a top-20 player when he focuses and plays the tennis he is very much capable of.

.(Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Nick’s previously had public stoushes with Hewitt, and his detractors may well point to the many scandals he’s been involved in during his career – leaving the court ostensibly to use the bathroom and then smashing two innocent racquets, sledging Stan Wawrinka over his girlfriend, and openly tanking – as reasons why he isn’t fit to represent our nation.

I get it. He is a very divisive figure – to put it mildly – but Nick thrives in a team environment. It was there for all to see just last month as he and Kokkinakis defied all expectations and each earned their first grand slam title.

Cast your mind back also to 2020. In the inaugural edition of the ATP Cup, Australia’s run was stopped only in the semi-finals by a star-studded Spain team. Along the way Kyrgios defeated Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas in singles and, together with Alex de Minaur, triumphed over Great Britain’s Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury in doubles.

Nick was undefeated in that tournament in four matches across singles and doubles until he came up against Roberto Bautista Agut, a formidable opponent indeed, in the semis.

The post-match point celebrations in the 2022 AO final were reminiscent of Kyrgios and De Minaur’s wild embrace after they defeated the British duo back in 2020.

You don’t get scenes like that from a man who doesn’t care about the result, who doesn’t care about his nation or his teammates.

They’re scenes made possible only by a passionate, extraordinarily talented player who can produce absolute magic on the court – moments 95 per cent of professionals could never produce – when he’s dialled in.

Admittedly, he isn’t always focused on his game. His petulant behaviour and antics generally make a lot more headlines than his play.

But a motivated Kyrgios is a very valuable weapon. I’m constantly surprised by what he can do, and despite the fact he turns 27 in a couple of months, I believe he has only scratched the surface of what he’s capable of achieving in this sport.

I’m very high on the Demon, and he is deservedly the No. 1 singles option for Hewitt at this time.

Kokkinakis deserves to be there too in some capacity.

As promising as Alexei Popyrin may be, he has not yet established himself.

John Peers, Matthew Ebden, Luke Saville and Max Purcell are all strong options for the doubles speciality slots. How that all shakes out, I’m not sure.

Perhaps, as harsh it would be, Kokkinakis gets squeezed out. Or maybe Popyrin misses out.

But going forward, Kyrgios absolutely has to be in Australia’s Davis Cup squad. It would be a crying shame to deprive this country’s tennis fans of his on-court charisma and unbelievable talent, not to mention picking him will significantly increase our chances of getting as deep into the competition as possible.