Lleyton Hewitt has given tennis officials a parting shot as Australia was knocked out of the Davis Cup on Sunday morning.
World number one Jannik Sinner closed out a 2-0 win for Italy with Alex de Minaur powerless to stop the red hot two-time grand slam champ.
Watch every ball of Australia v India LIVE & ad-break free during play in 4K on Kayo | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.
The two-time winners will face Netherlands in Monday morning’s showpiece after the Dutch ousted Germany 2-0 to make the final for the first time in 104 years of trying.
Watching Australia punch well above its weight, Hewitt lamented what could have been for his team, sharing concerns about the advantages European teams have at the team-tournament, hosted in Malaga, Spain.
Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis summed it up after he was beaten 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 7-5 by Matteo Berrettini in the first singles rubber.
Berrettini was cheered on by thousands of Italian fans that made the short journey to Spain.
“I felt I was playing an away tie, it was tough on Australia — we were playing in Spain but I thought we were in Italy,” said Kokkinakis, echoing prior Australian complaints about the revamped Davis Cup format.
“Once again we’re a long way from Australia aren’t we?” said captain Hewitt.
“It will be nice when they take our bid seriously to host the finals, Australia will put on a bloody good event.”
Hewitt last week said it was “frustrating” to always have to travel for the finals.
Malaga has hosted the finals for the past three years.
The last 16 finals have all been played in Europe — seven of those in Spain.
Australia, beaten finalists in each of the last two years, are the second most successful team in the tournament’s history with 28 titles but last won it in 2003.
Australia has not hosted the event since 2003.
“I think there has been some mistakes made in the last few years,” the two-time Davis Cup winner said.
“We’d really like to hopefully host the Finals as well. We’d like to get the opportunity to put a bid in for next year to host the Finals in Australia. I think we deserve that. I have been working extremely hard with the Federation to be able to give us that opportunity.
“It’s frustrating for these guys to always have to come all the way over to Europe every single year to play in the Finals. I know how special it was for me to win Davis Cup Finals in Australia. I think we all know how good a tradition our country has in this competition for well over a hundred years. We’ll see where that lands.”
Those comments won’t make it an easier for the Aussie team to swallow the defeat.
De Minaur looked lost when trying to battle Sinner and was never in the match, losing 6-3 6-4.
De Minaur’s head to head record with Sinner is 0-9.
“Finals are a huge privilege to be a part of — Sunday is a final and I’m very happy to be here in this position,” said Sinner.
“Winning would mean so much for us, not only for the win but because it would mean we defended our title.
“If we don’t, it’s still an amazing achievement, we showed it was not lucky last year, we’re here because we are an amazing team.”
Australian Open, US Open and ATP Finals winner Sinner is enjoying a superb year and can cap it with another Davis Cup triumph.
The 23-year-old is still waiting for the outcome of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal against his initial exoneration for twice testing positive for traces of the steroid clostebol in March.
However he has not been distracted and despite De Minaur, ranked ninth, battling hard, claimed the first set without much stress.
The players exchanged breaks in the second and third games before Sinner broke decisively for a 4-2 lead with a delicious drop shot, and he served it out.
The Italian worked the first break points of the second set in the ninth game. De Minaur saved two but Sinner converted the third with a passing shot to serve for the match.
Sinner claimed victory when De Minaur returned badly wide and mangled his racquet in sheer frustration.
“He hasn’t won a million matches this year for no reason — it was tough,” admitted De Minaur.
“It’s like trying to solve a puzzle that not a lot of people have managed to solve.
“His ball speed, his consistency, it feels like there’s no real let down of focus throughout the whole match.”
Berrettini was superb in the doubles decider as Italy beat Argentina in the quarter-finals and captain Filippo Volandri rewarded him with selection in the opening clash in place of Lorenzo Musetti.
Berrettini watched on as Italy won the Davis Cup for the first time in 47 years in 2023, not part of the squad but cheering from the sidelines as he recovered from an ankle injury.
This year he has been able to play an important role in Italy’s charge towards the final.
“After I lost the first set it wasn’t easy to digest that, but when I’m fighting for my country with this crowd… I kept on fighting,” said Berrettini.
— with AFP
Discussion about this post