Fight for spots in Hewitt’s Cup side

LLEYTON Hewitt will take a bumper eight-man squad to Brussels as he leaves no stone unturned in Australia’s quest to break a 14-year Davis Cup title drought.

Hewitt’s hopefuls have already started hitting on clay at John McEnroe’s New York academy in preparation for a semi-final showdown with Belgium from September 15-17.

The Australian captain is leaning towards going with the three singles options of Nick Kyrgios, Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis and doubles specialist John Peers.

Hewitt will also take John Millman, Australia’s best US Open performer, while teenagers Alex De Minaur and French Open junior champion Alexei Popyrin will also travel as hitting partners, along with team mainstay Sam Groth.

With Kyrgios battling ongoing hip and shoulder injuries, Hewitt needs singles insurance in case his spearhead breaks down, leaving Kokkinakis or Millman in the box seat to nab a starting berth.

Groth remains hopeful of partnering Peers in the pivotal doubles rubber but says it’s win-win for Australia whichever way Hewitt goes.

Tennis Australia’s head of performance and former Cup captain Wally Masur says the squad plans to fly to Belgium on Wednesday.

“At this stage, we’re all going. I don’t think they’d be taking eight guys to play on clay for a week if everyone wasn’t an option,” Groth said.

“I’ve played every tie since 2014 so I’m still putting my hand up to play.

“The great thing for our Davis Cup team right now is that we have options. Probably with Thanasi being out injured and a lot of guys having injury problems, we’ve had a set four for a little while.

“But I think the fact that we’re all going to go there and fight for spots in that competitive environment, in a team environment, is probably going to have everyone going into the tie in form.”

Australia hasn’t made a Davis Cup final since Hewitt teamed with Mark Philippoussis, Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs to beat Spain at Kooyong in 2003.

“I guarantee whoever does not get picked will be on the sidelines screaming their lungs out trying to get the boys over the line,” Groth said.

Belgium will be led by world No.14 David Goffin and the 66th-ranked Steve Darcis.

The two captains will name their teams on Wednesday, with Australia playing for the right to host either France or Novak Djokovic’s Serbia in the November 24-26 final. AAP