Days after Lleyton Hewitt named Nick Kyrgios to Australia’s Davis Cup team over Twitter, he has completed the team nomination. The ATP World Tour’s most recent high-profile retiree has named Bernard Tomic, Sam Groth, and John Peers, a newcomer, to their side. Australia will play the United States at home to kickoff their 2016 Davis Cup campaign in the World Group stage.
Hewitt: From Being Named To Naming The Squad
Before Hewitt was named captain, he was still playing an important part of the Davis Cup ties with Wally Masur naming him and Thanasi Kokkinakis to the team over the likes of John Peers as their doubles specialist.
Just this past fall, Hewitt was named to the squad for Australia’s semifinal tie against Great Britain. He fell short with Sam Groth in the key doubles rubber which put Britain ahead 2-1 and eventually won that tie as well as the final. Hewitt’s most recent Davis Cup victories came up against Kazakhstan, being a part of two rubbers to help his side overcome a 0-2 deficit.
Kokkinakis Still Hurting
Thanasi Kokkinakis is still hurting; he’s currently recovering from shoulder surgery which has kept him out for the first two months of the season. The Aussie has been a Davis Cup regular last year, but his injury paved the way for John Peers to get into the squad.
Kyrgios and Tomic With Great Starts to The Year
Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic have both played well so far this season. Kyrgios has only one tour-level loss this year, coming at the Australian Open to Tomas Berdych. The 20-year-old helped Australia win the Hopman Cup this year with Daria Gavrilova and won his first tour-level title at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille.
Meanwhile, Tomic is ranked 21 in the world and enjoyed some early season success. He was a semifinalist at the Brisbane International and made the round of 16 at the Australian Open. However, he’s in a bad run of form right now, dropping two straight matches in Quito and Delray Beach to Paolo Lorenzi and Rajeev Ram respectively.