Australia must end its reliance on stalwart Lleyton Hewitt and establish a formidable doubles combination if it wants success in the Davis Cup, according to national men’s coach Todd Woodbridge.
The retired doubles great finished his career with 15 grand slam men’s doubles titles and with a 25-7 win-loss record from 32 Davis Cup ties.
Hewitt has been the heart and soul of the Australian team since making his debut as an 18-year-old and in the last tie – a devastating loss to Germany to miss re-entry to the World Group – surpassed Woodbridge as the country’s most-capped player.
The 31-year-old has battled a series of injuries over the past few years and Woodbridge said it was too much to expect him to continue to play both doubles and singles.
“Lleyton needs to strategise now in Davis Cup to see what’s the best outcome for the team,” he said.
“Playing the three matches is going to be very difficult for him.
“That workload needs to be shared around some of the younger members of the team.”
Woodbridge said Australia needed to prioritise its doubles combination, which against Germany was Hewitt and Chris Guccione.
“That’s crucial to winning the Davis Cup,” he said.
“It was when we won it in my time.
“I think that it’s one of the targets in general for their development to get our players playing in the doubles.”
Woodbridge, who also had a brief stint at Davis Cup coach in 2009 before moving into his role as Tennis Australia’s head of men’s tennis, nominated rising star Matt Ebden to play with big-serving Guccione.
“Guccione is dangerous because he rarely loses his serve and Ebden is a pretty quick player with good reflexes and moves well around the net; that’s something that needs to be looked at.
“We need to get a new partnership formed so you can leave Lleyton and Bernard (Tomic) to fill the singles. Then you’ve got a pretty solid team going.”
Australia’s starting point for their trek back to the World Group begins away to Taiwan in Asia/Oceania Zone Group 1.
That tie will be held just after the Australian Open from February 1-3.
With Tomic sadly out of shape and out of form, Woodbridge said Hewitt’s commitment to another year of Davis Cup offered the team some stability.
“I think that loss to Germany may have been one of the toughest losses of Lleyton’s career.
“That one was one that he probably felt had been set up for him to do what he really wanted and that was to get Australia back in the World Group.
“I know he was incredibly disappointed.”