Lleyton Hewitt has confirmed his probable intention to play one last Australian Open in 2016 before retiring to the Davis Cup captaincy vacated a year earlier than expected by Pat Rafter. In the meantime, former Cup coach Wally Masur will fill an interim role to facilitate the transition, starting with Australia's first-round tie against the Czech Republic in April.
Rafter, who starts as Tennis Australia performance director on Sunday, had originally planned to complete a fifth year as captain before handing over to Hewitt. Instead, he will concentrate on his new postition, leaving trusted lieutenant Masur to fill the breach until Hewitt's likely retirement as a player after a 20th competitive visit to Melbourne Park.
Hewitt intends to play only the Davis Cup tie between now and the grasscourt season in June, picking and choosing his schedule carefully and thus avoiding his least favourite surface: clay.
"I've thought long and hard," Hewitt, 33, said. "I plan to play the Aussie Open next year and most likely finish then. Obviously for me the Davis Cup is something we've worked extremely hard to put ourselves in a position in the World Group where we have a genuine shot.
"I believe with the guys now we have a lot more options, a lot more depth. I feel like I can still put my hand up as a player and help the boys get over the line. Whether that's singles, doubles, whatever is needed. Right at the moment that's the main focus for us. Personally I'll be looking towards the grasscourt season and most likely finishing here in Melbourne, which for me would obviously be special to play 20 Australian Opens."
He said he had benefitted physically from an extended three-month pre-season. "The body feels great at the moment. That's the only reason why I want to keep playing.
"I'm excited about the prospect obviously of still being able to play Davis Cup. I've been waiting a while for these young guys to come and for us to have an opportunity of going deep. I think we have a real shot at trying to upset Czech away from home. It's not going to be easy, but I give us a real good opportunity there."
Rafter said he preferred to focus on other immediate priorities in his all-encompassing new role, including the various high-performance academies and lifting the women's game. "I just feel for me to do the role that I need to do, I can't be traveling all over the place in this initial six months for sure," Rafter said. "I've just got to knuckle down and get things going."
Masur, a close friend and mentor of Rafter's, was happy to oblige, given Australia's traditional preference for a non-playing captain. "I obviously spoke to Lleyton a few days ago about it, and we've come to the arrangement that he's still a player, he still has a career to flesh out and see where that ends. Until that happens, I'll be captain. I think, too, we have great stability in the sense that we have Tony Roche ([as a consultant] and Josh Eagle, head of men's tennis, is involved.
"They've formed great relationships with the guys. Having worked with these two over the last couple of years with Davis Cup, when Pat asked me, it was a pretty easy decision to make. I think it helps facilitate these two guys be involved in the way they want to be involved and hopefully make a seamless transition."
Determined to set high standards and assert his authority, Rafter has had occasionally challenging relationships with several players, suspending both Bernard Tomic and Marinko Matosevic for ties for disciplinary reasons, and admitting there had been some "backlash" at times. But Australian men's tennis is certainly in a far healthier position than when he took over the captaincy, at a time it was languishing in the Asia/Oceania Group.
They are now back among the top 16 for the second consececutive year, and fancy their chances of their full-strength squad causing an upset against a Czech team that is expected to be without Australian Open semi-finalist and world No.7 Tomas Berdych.
