There is mounting intrigue surrounding Australia's Davis Cup tie against the United States in Kooyong, with recently retired Lleyton Hewitt naming himself to the team and questions arising about what surface should have been selected for the tie.
Hewitt, in his first tie as Australia's captain, put himself on the roster once Nick Kyrgios withdrew, but played down the prospect of taking the court. He is not named for any of the matches, though players can be substituted during the tie.
"Obviously with Nick, when we knew he had some issues, I tried to prepare as well as possible," Hewitt told the press in the lead-up to the tie. "You've just got to have backups ... We've got as good a team as we can field going in, and I'm confident we can still win.”
Hewitt said Kyrgios, who had hip and back injuries before the tie, withdrew because of a virus he picked up in Dubai. The 21-year-old took part in one practice but is still ill, leading the team to decide against his participation.
"We had to see how he pulled up from yesterday,” Hewitt said. “It wasn't the toughest hit yesterday, but he just wasn't fit enough to play.”
The Australians are playing the Americans on grass in Kooyong, which the players seem to see as a key advantage. Big-serving Sam Groth, who is scheduled to play even bigger-serving Isner in the opening singles match, said he trained during the week and is ready to play all three days.
"I'm a different player, especially when I come into this environment and come onto grass,” he said. “It's my favorite surface.”
The top-ranked Australian is Bernard Tomic, who is scheduled to play Jack Sock. Tomic also sees the grass as an advantage.
"He is a good player,” Tomic said of Sock. “He's almost Top 20 and he's dangerous, but I think this is the surface to get him on. And I think my game's going to match up well against him on this surface."
According to The New York Times, there may have been an agreement to have the next Australian-American tie played on hard courts. The previous meeting between the two nations was in 1999 at the Longwood Club in Boston, marking the 100th anniversary of the event at its original location. That was despite the Australians having the choice of ground for the tie, and in return they were allowed to choose to put the tie on hard courts instead of the clay the Americans had selected.
But accounts at the time indicated that part of the agreement was that the Australians would have their next tie against the Americans on hard courts, according to The New York Times. It said the USTA is looking into what happened, and has asked the International Tennis Federation to do the same.
Tennis Australia has not commented on the issue.