Lleyton Hewitt and Tennis Australia face a brutal reality that has stared them in the face for the past few years after the country’s embarrassing Davis Cup defeat to Ecuador.
Playing without Alex de Minaur – Australia’s sole man ranked in the top 50 – and Alexei Popyrin, Hewitt’s men suffered the ignominy of losing to a rival without a singles player inside the top 200.
Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt.Credit: Janie Barrett
De Minaur, who typically loves and is devoted to Davis Cup, skipped the first-round qualifying tie in part because of the injuries (predominantly a serious hip setback) he dealt with in the past two years, and the punishing schedule that comes with being a top 10 star who is desperate to go deeper at the grand slams.
“Over the last month, I’ve been in constant communication with Lleyton [and] have decided that with the issues that my body has given me throughout the last year, it was smartest to sit this one out,” de Minaur said at the United Cup in January.
“I’m definitely going to be available for the next one. I’ll be cheering on the boys and [I am] super excited for that.”
The aforementioned reasons were legitimate, with an asterisk. Let’s not beat around the bush: the world No.6 assumed Australia would not need him to beat Ecuador despite it being an away tie and on clay.
Alex de Minaur at the Australian Open. Credit: Eddie Jim
However, James Duckworth and Rinky Hijikata both lost three-setters on the opening day to leave Australia in an 0-2 hole, with the likes of Jordan Thompson (who played doubles only), Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios also unavailable or not selected.
Hijikata and Thompson’s straight-sets defeat to Ecuadorian doubles specialists Gonzalo Escobar and Diego Hidalgo sealed Australia’s shock loss – and a famous win for their conquerors.
It is a dark day for a nation that has 28 Davis Cup titles on its resume and made the final in 2023 and 2024.
Former world No.1 Hewitt seemed to understand de Minaur’s absence, at least publicly, but made it clear he wanted Popyrin to play, particularly on clay, which he won a junior grand slam title on in 2017 before reaching the last 16 at Roland-Garros last year.
But there is a bigger problem here: Australia’s tennis stocks on the men’s side – pretty much besides de Minaur – are in rough shape, and have been trending this way for a while.
Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley laughed off this masthead’s reference to there being only two Australian men younger than 24 inside the top 500 while announcing the Australian Open’s new partnership with Mecca in December.
Tiley’s quip in response at the time about 25 not being old – designed to downplay the state of the men’s game here – drew laughs from a bunch of influencers and PR people in the background.
But no one at Tennis Australia is laughing about the situation now, although the Mecca deal certainly delivered plenty of money and exposure for both sides.
Those two players younger than 24 are James McCabe (world No.208) and Edward Winter (No.488). Neither is a top prospect. McCabe, 22, did not even score a main draw wildcard into last month’s Australian Open.
Cruz Hewitt looks the biggest long term hope for Australian men’s tennis.Credit: Getty Images
Lleyton’s son, Cruz Hewitt, who turned 17 in December, is probably Australia’s best prospect, but how he handles everything that comes with being the “son of” could decide where his career heads. It won’t be easy.
Worth noting also is that Cruz was never ranked higher than No.38 in juniors, so we should keep expectations in check, but as if that will happen.
This masthead asked Tiley again last week about Tennis Australia’s development pathway, and he pointed to the “per capita” numbers suggesting that “we are punching above our weight”.
Our response was to point out that we are one of four countries with the distinct advantage of hosting a grand slam.
“We’re a grand slam country, so we should be high,” Tiley conceded. “I think the cycle of replacing older players with younger players is a long cycle. It’s not a year or two-year cycle. Buying players is an option, but it’s not an option we take.”
There is finally a promising group of Australian players on the women’s side, but the cracks were covered for years from the likes of Daria Saville, Ajla Tomljanovic and the Rodionovas – Anastasia and Arina – switching allegiances to Australia.
More recently, and with a personal motivation, Daria Kasatkina followed suit. Maya Joint at least has an Australian father, but grew up and developed in the United States.
Tiley contends that all those players wanted to play for Australia, and were not chased or bought.
Hewitt is not above criticism either. He receives something in the range of $500,000 in his role, so that comes with significant responsibility. Like de Minaur, Hewitt went through a stage where he was the only genuinely relevant Australian man on tour.
This horror Ecuador result will create a temporary stir, but fixing the bigger-picture story needs to be the priority at Tennis Australia headquarters.
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