Lleyton Hewitt: 'I'm thrilled to have these guys in the squad, they will give 100%'

The Memorial Drive Tennis Club in Adelaide will host the national squads of Australia and Brazil in the Davis Cup Qualifiers between March 6-7, with two teams fighting for the place at the Davis Cup Finals in Madrid in November. It will be the fourth clash between these two countries, with Australia scoring wins in the previous three and standing as the favorite in this one as well, despite the fact they will have to play without their leading singles players, Alex de Minaur and Nick Kyrgios who had to withdraw due to injuries. Back in 1955, Ken Rosewall and Lew Hoad toppled Brazil in Louisville and we had to wait until 2000 and 2001 to see more encounters between them, with Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt securing victories for the second-best Davis Cup nation in both Brisbane and Florianopolis. In the Aussie squad, John Millman, John Peers and Jordan Thompson have already been confirmed, with the Davis Cup debutants James Duckworth and Alex Bolt ready to step in and replace Kyrgios and de Minaur in front of the home fans. 

"I'm thrilled with the guys I've got in the team," Hewitt said. "I couldn't be more confident and happy with how we are placed right now. You can either sink or swim in Davis Cup playing for Australia. I've got much confidence that these boys I'm going to put out there are going to put up a hell of an effort. Ducks and Bolty have been around a lot of ties. They've been hitting partners, orange boys who have done much work for the team. I love the story that goes with it for those guys. What I have instilled into them is that this is your time now, boys. Ranking gets thrown out the window. For me, it is about preparing these guys as well as possible. Whomever I pick, it won't be based on rankings but on whom we think can go out there and do the job for us."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Ii8uiL