Hewitt weighs up Cup options

FORM and the ability to stand up to the pressures of playing for their country will be at the forefront of Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt’s thinking when he selects his player for Australia’s opening singles matches against Brazil.

“Whoever we pick will not be based off rankings, it will be based off whoever can go out there and do the job for us,” Hewitt said ahead of Friday’s two singles rubbers.

“I have got an idea of which way we’ll go, [but] whoever we name on Thursday things can still change,” he said.

It is unlikely, though not out of the question Hewitt said, that a player will feature in the doubles and singles matches scheduled for Saturday.

“It would be a big ask to play three matches in two days, the biggest challenge is playing a doubles before a singles on a Saturday, you don’t [even] do it a junior level, it’s an unknown.”

Brazil will boast new wonderkid, 19-year-old Thiago Seyboth Wild who won the ATP 250 Santiago Open last weekend to jump to 113 in the world rankings, in its ranks.

“Seyboth Wild has always been talked about since he won the junior grand slams, he is a quality player,” Hewitt said.

“For him, it’s about coming from clay and adjusting.”

Australia will not be let down by a lack of preparation he said. “I guarantee you we will have crossed everything off by the time we go out there on Friday.”

Brazilian captain Jaime Oncins meanwhile — surprised by the cold weather on his first ever trip to Adelaide — conceded Australia is the strong favourite.

“Home advantage means you can choose the court, ball, Australia has heavy tradition in the Davis Cup,” he said, but he is optimistic of a Brazilian win with Wild the player to keep an eye on.