New Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt has backed young guns Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios to shine for team Australia against the USA. Hewitt admits it will be a tough battle.
Australia Facing USA in March
Tomic and Kyrgios have been announced as part of the Australian Davis Cup team. They join Sam Groth and doubles specialist John Peers for the Aussies. They will take part in the World Group first round tie to take place between March 4th and March 6th.
Hewitt ended his Davis Cup career for Australia last September and will be overlooking Australia’s first-round tie against the US at Kooyong. Tomic, currently ranked 21st, will start against world number 23 Jack Sock. In-form Nick Kyrgios is scheduled to face 11th-ranked John Isner on the grass courts at Kooyong.
Hewitt on Bernard Tomic
In an interview with Australian newspaper, The Age, Lleyton Hewitt defended Bernard Tomic's recent play before Acapulco by saying, “Bernie's had a couple of little niggles the last couple of weeks that not everyone knows about. Against Ram it was probably a fine line, because I thought he played exceptionally well in the first set, and he wasn't quite able to get over the line, and then obviously lost his way early in the second."
Hewitt continued, “But that can happen to anyone, it's happened at times to me throughout my career and I guess it's to do with how he carries himself sometimes on the tennis court because he doesn't get as fired up as a lot of other people out there and now it's got to the stage where any time he loses, especially to a lower-ranked player, people think he's not giving 100 per cent.”
“So it's just easy to hop on the bandwagon for some people now, but Bernie still goes out there and competes 100 per cent – every time I've seen him play, anyway. It's just about him doing it week in and week out now.”
Hewitt on Nick Kyrgios
Hewitt then spoke about the feisty Australian Nick Kyrgios, saying that being angry has often helped the 20-year-old Canberran to play his best tennis. Before winning his maiden ATP title in Marseille last week, Kyrgios, just like Tomic, had been at his best on the bigger stages.
“It depends ... if you use it in a positive way afterwards and you're letting some steam out and then can get your focus back on the match,” Hewitt said. “I've done it numerous times in my career and I was always able to pretty much turn it around, let out frustration and then get back on with the match. Andy Murray's a guy that does it as well. So it's natural but it's still got to be in a positive way. You can't keep letting it affect your tennis, I guess, and sort of let it drag on,” said Hewitt.
Times have changed for the better for Kyrgios though, and Hewitt acknowledged the same, “You still want them to be themselves, and the reason Nick's had so much success is because of his self-belief on the court, and how he goes about it, but it's just small fine-tuning here and there, and for them to mature as well, not only as tennis players, but as people.”
“They're really in the spotlight with the way social media is these days, as well. There might have been things that have happened that possibly couldn't have been picked up maybe 20 years ago, purely because everyone has a phone or a recorder or whatever now. So there's things they've just got to work through, but I think both guys are on the right path, and I'm just one resource there that they can sort of tap into to give them the best possible opportunity to fulfill that potential.”
Tomic has been the better Davis Cup player to-date with a 15-3 mark in his career. Kyrgios has less experience with a 3-4 record in singles play. Both will have a chance to improve on those numbers next weekend.