Nick Kyrgios omitted from Davis Cup team despite Australian Open victory
Lleyton Hewitt has snubbed Nick Kyrgios from his Davis Cup team despite winning the Australian Open doubles, although partner Thanasi Kokkinakis has been selected.
Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis lit up the Australian Open as they stormed their way to the doubles title. The Australian duo, dubbed the ‘Special Ks’ beat the world’s top ranked doubles partnership of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic en route to their Slam win.
Their matches were also often jam-packed with excitement and flair. After their win against Pavic and Mektic a Croatian fitness trainer offered to fight Kyrgios when he felt the Australian was being “disrespectful.”
In the next round, Kyrgios was branded “an absolute knob” by opponent Michael Venus. This came after Kyrgios accidentally struck a young fan with a stray ball. Although, Kyrgios made amends for his error by gifting the injured spectator with a signed racket.
However, despite these impressive performances and eventual Slam win, Kyrgios has been left out of Lleyton Hewitt’s Australia team for next month’s Davis Cup.
A two-time Davis Cup winner himself, Hewitt opted to select Australian number one Alex de Minaur, Kyrgios’ Australian Open doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis, World number 12 doubles player John Peers and Alexei Popyrin. Luke Saville was also handed his debut.
Speaking about his decisions, two-time Slam champion Hewitt said “Alex [de Minaur] has had most of his recent success in Sydney, winning the Sydney international a few years back but also some of his best results last month, including quality wins against Berrettini and Humbert.
“Thanasi had a fantastic Australian summer. He really cemented himself as a top-100 player again, winning his first title at home in Adelaide and beating quality players.
“And then to go on to win the Australian Open doubles, this is going to give him a lot of confidence heading into this tie.”
“Popyrin got an opportunity to play a big Davis Cup match in the finals last year. He has a lot of firepower out there, a lot of weapons as well and certainly an option for singles or doubles.
“Peers has been a regular in the Davis Cup team for a number of years now, he’s a top 15 doubles player. He won the Sydney Tennis Classic a couple of weeks ago and played exceptionally well with Luke Saville at the ATP Cup last month,” Hewitt added.
“Luke gets his first opportunity to represent Australia at Davis Cup. It’s something he has worked extremely hard for, and I couldn’t be prouder of him to get this opportunity and being able to present him with a gold jacket and his number.”
Hewitt didn’t mention why he omitted Kyrgios from his team.
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