Rate it!

0 votes

The absence of Lleyton Hewitt has forced Australia's selectors to choose a relatively inexperienced line-up for this month's Davis Cup World Cup playoff in Chile.

With Hewitt unavailable because of a hip injury and experienced doubles player Paul Hanley also booked in for surgery, Australia's non-playing captain John Fitzgerald was left with no alternative than to pick a new-look team.

Chris Guccione, ranked 87th in the world, and Peter Luczak, who has not played a match since May, are the only members of the six-man squad to have played Davis Cup before.

The remaining four players - Carsten Ball, Brydan Klein, Sam Groth and the highly rated 15-year-old Bernard Tomic - have played a combined total of just four professional matches between them.

Australia have always struggled to win on the slow red clay of South America but Fitzgerald said he had still not given up hope of an upset win this time.

"Of course Lleyton Hewitt's absence is a blow. But here is an opportunity for a couple of these young guys to step up in what will be one of the toughest competitive environments in the world," Fitzgerald said.

"These are the sort of opportunities which can uncover strength of character and an intensely competitive streak in a player.

"We will go in as underdogs but this is Davis Cup and history shows that anything can happen."

Reuters