Rafter slams Davis Cup ruling

Australian captain Pat Rafter has slammed a Davis Cup ruling which prevents him from playing youngster Thanasi Kokkinakis in a dead singles rubber against Uzbekistan in Perth on Sunday.

The Australians secured a spot in next year’s World Group after veterans Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione combined to easily dispatch Uzbek pair Denis Istomin and Farrukh Dustov 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 at the Cottesloe Tennis Club on Saturday.

It gave the host nation an unassailable 3-0 lead in the World Group play-off, making Sunday’s two reverse singles matches both dead rubber encounters.

Rafter confirmed big-serving Sam Groth would make his Davis Cup debut in one of the matches. However, he will be forced to play one of Hewitt or rising star Nick Kyrgios in the other rubber.

Kyrgios is battling an arm injury which hampered his US Open campaign while Hewitt is keen to rest his weary 33-year-old body. Both players recorded comfortable singles victories over Istomin and Dustov on Friday.

Kokkinakis, 18, is in Perth as a hitting partner for the Australian team, but an ITF ruling prevents him from playing on Sunday because he was not named in the official four-man squad on the eve of the tie.

“This is where the rule is just s***,” Rafter said.

“It’s great for Grothy, but I just see no relevance in playing Nick or Lleyton.

“Gooch certainly won’t be playing, he’s got to look after his body.

“I want to put Thanasi in, but they won’t let me. I think everyone would really appreciate seeing the young kid play and how good he is. He’s a potential player for us in the future.

“I just totally disagree with the ITF ruling.”

Australia will find out on Thursday who they will play in next year’s opening round of the World Group after Hewitt and Guccione took exactly 100 minutes to ensure their country retained its place in the Davis Cup elite.

Neither Hewitt nor Guccione dropped their serve on their way to their sixth win as a Davis Cup double pairing.

“We are complete opposite game styles, personalities, everything, in a lot of ways, but we team up really well though and we know what we’re going to get from one another on the court,” Hewitt said.

“We don’t play a lot of doubles together, but I feel in these one-off matches we gel pretty well.”

Uzbekistan, who are yet to qualify for the World Group in six attempts, will return to the Asia/Oceania zone group in 2015.

Istomin is battling a hip complaint and is unlikely to play in the reverse singles on Sunday.

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