From having an embarrassment of riches, Lleyton Hewitt suddenly has a huge Davis Cup selection dilemma.
Hewitt’s go-to men are dropping like flies ahead of Australia’s qualifying tie in Sweden on January 31 and February 1.
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Of the skipper’s initial four-man team named earlier this month, world No.8 Alex de Minaur is fit, firing and, at this stage, 100 per cent available.
Jordan Thompson conceded after his second-round Australian Open exit that he badly needed a break from the sport to overcome a painful and nagging calf injury.
Then Thanasi Kokkinakis predicted he wouldn’t be able to lift his arm on Thursday after suffering through a chronic pectorial muscle injury during his five-set loss to Englishman Jack Draper.
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The mercurial Nick Kyrgios had surprisingly been named to return to the Cup fold after a five-year absence but he, too, is now in doubt with a wrist issue.
While not named to face the Swedes in Stockholm, Australian No.2 Alexei Popyrin was also injured during his second-round exit from Melbourne Park, bemoaning the unfortunate timing of a strained glute undermining his first grand slam campaign as a seed.
Hewitt is understandably concerned.
Australia are the second-ranked team in the world, behind only back-to-back Davis Cup champions Italy, after making successive finals in 2022 and 2023 and the semis last year.
With nine Australians ranked inside the world’s top 100, it has not quite reached the stage of Hewitt needing to make a playing comeback or the captain considering elevating his 16-year-old son from orange boy status to Davis Cup debutant.
Cruz Hewitt (Photo credit should read Chris Putnam/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
But he is certainly sweating on de Minaur staying healthy over the next two weeks.
Should anything happen to his spearhead, suddenly Australia’s tie in Stockholm, which originally looked a gimme against the once-great but-now-depleted Swedes, might not be so easy.
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The Swedish team’s top-ranked player is world No.327 Elias Ymer and also features Leo Borg, the son of the legendary Bjorn, Andre Goransson and Filip Bergevi.
Whoever Hewitt picks, Australia will remain hot favourites to win the indoor tie as they strive end a 22-year Cup title drought.
Hewitt, though, may need to hand the likes of world No.68 Aleksandar Vukic or the 70th-ranked Chris O’Connell a Davis Cup debut.
Both have shown strong form, with Vukic upsetting world No.22 Sebastian Korda to make the Australian Open third round for the first time, while O’Connell pushed 12th seed Tommy Paul to five sets before bowing out.
© AAP