Nick Kyrgios and Australian tennis great Lleyton Hewitt will shoulder Australia’s Davis Cup hopes as they enter a match with Uzbekistan in Perth next week.
Australia coach Pat Rafter says he is confident the two can obtain a crucial win after Bernard Tomic and Marinko Matosevic were ruled out of the world group playoff tie.
Thrashed 5-0 by France in February, Australia must beat Uzbekistan to remain in the elite world group in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2006-7.
Rafter says while Kyrgios battled to stay calm at the US Open, he believes the youngster will be able to keep his composure.
“I think he struggled during the US Open, his first round I think he showed behaviour which he was probably not used to and I think he dealt with the pressure in the wrong way,” Rafter said to Perth Now.
“I think he’s feeling a little bit of pressure, but as time goes along he’ll get better and better at handling that.”
Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo brought Nick Kyrgios crashing back to earth with a third-round elimination at the US Open in New York.
Robredo overcame a blistering opening from Kyrgios to grind out a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 victory, leaving the half-Greek, half-Malaysian player crashing out of the Open.
Source: Perth Now, news.com.au