Hewitt leaves out Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios has missed selection in Australia’s five-man team for the Davis Cup finals qualifier against Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the country’s No 3-ranked player Matthew Ebden also overlooked again.
Lleyton Hewitt’s squad for the Adelaide tie includes Australia’s leading two singles players, Alex de Minaur and John Millman, doubles specialist John Peers, as well as Jordan Thompson and young gun Alexei Popyrin.
Kyrgios is on the outer less than a week after he was taken to task by Hewitt for having a pot shot at the Davis Cup captain on social media.
Aside from questions about his commitment, the 23-year-old’s ranking has nosedived. He is forecast to slip to No 67 in the world after the Australian Open following a first-round defeat to a redhot Milos Raonic.
There was also no place in the team for world No 48 Ebden. Australia’s third-ranked singles player leading into the Open behind de Minaur (ranked 29th) and Millman (37th), the 31-yearold has revealed concerns around communication in the Davis Cup set-up after being knocked out in the second round at Melbourne Park by Rafael Nadal.
Ebden’s comments last week followed Bernard Tomic’s savage criticism of Hewitt, claiming the former world No 1 favoured particular players, was liked by no one and had ‘‘ruined the system’’.
Hewitt returned serve by alleging Tomic had made physical threats against his family and tried to blackmail him over the past two years, declaring the onetime Wimbledon quarterfinalist would not play Davis Cup again under his watch.