Davis Cup captain puts faith in teen sensation

LLEYTON Hewitt has reached back to the precocious start of his successful tennis career for Australia in deciding to pitch impressive 18-yeer-old Alex de Minaur into the Davis Cup deep end at Pat Rafter Arena today.

De Minaur said he wanted to make the most of his “dream” Davis Cup singles debut today against Germany’s world No.5 Alexander Zverev.

Hewitt made his Davis Cup debut at 18 in a winning tie over the US in 1999 and next beat Russia’s world No.2 Yevgeny Kafelnikov in Brisbane’s famous “potato field’’ tie.

“It’s pretty special to be playing your first tie and having a huge match to play — it’s a dream come true,” said de Minaur.

Hewitt said he liked the mobile de Minaur’s game style against the tall, big-hitting Zverev, choosing him rather than Australian No.4 John Millman, who would have been playing on his home court in Brisbane.

“Alex will make the court as small as possible for Zverev,’’ Hewitt said. “He’s had a great summer. There’s a lot of pressure on Zverev to get the job done. He’s the red-hot favourite and it will be interesting to see how he handles it.’’

Australian No.1 Nick Kyrgios will play the second match of the three-day tie against German No.2 Jan-Lenard Struff, ranked No.58.

Hewitt, 36, foxed through the week over whether he would select himself for doubles. In the end, Matt Ebden was announced as the doubles partner of John Peers, but the captains are able to make changes up to one hour before play tomorrow and Sunday.