Cup Court Up To Speed For Hewitt
The Age
Tuesday March 28, 2006
LLEYTON Hewitt is assured of a court speed closer to the pace he desires and, with his return, captain John Fitzgerald is equipped with a full-strength team for next week's Davis Cup quarter-final against Belarus at Kooyong. The casualty is Peter Luczak, Australia's singles spearhead against Switzerland only last month.
The difficult decision for Fitzgerald did not involve the venue, or the Kooyong version of the Rebound Ace surface that already is playing more quickly than that which so enraged Hewitt at Melbourne Park; Fitzgerald's quandary was the choice between Luczak and final-day Geneva hero Chris Guccione.Clearly, room had to be made for Hewitt, back after missing the first round against the Swiss as retaliation, mostly, for the slowness of the Australian Open courts. Out went Luczak, who is thus in Sweden with his pregnant girlfriend rather than preparing for the first cup tie in his home city since the 2003 final."He's disappointed," Fitzgerald said of Luczak. "I would have been disappointed if he wasn't disappointed because that means he's desperate to play." Another Melburnian, the 168th-ranked Guccione, was judged to be the better hardcourt option against what is effectively a two-man Belarusian team of Max Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov for the tie, starting on Friday week.Mirnyi is ranked 55th but has been as high as 18th and is a former No. 1 in doubles. He is at his best on fast surfaces. So, too, Voltchkov, a 2000 Wimbledon semi-finalist whose ranking has sunk to 549th but is regarded as something of a Davis Cup specialist, having built a 39-23 record for the country that upset Spain in round one.Australia is likely to nominate Hewitt and Guccione for the singles, plus Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley in doubles, with the option of using Arthurs on day three if required. Then again, Guccione famously held his nerve against George Bastl in the decisive singles match of the Switzerland tie, in only his second live rubber."It gave me a huge amount of confidence," Guccione said yesterday. "If I get a chance to play here, I can pull it out of my memory and know that I've done it in the fifth rubber, in the decider, so that's great."Guccione said he had spoken with a disappointed but accepting Luczak, just as Fitzgerald has been in regular contact with Hewitt and his coach Roger Rasheed. After consecutive finals in San Jose and Las Vegas, Hewitt - now ranked 14th and dropping - has logged a pair of surprise second-round losses, yet Fitzgerald claimed not to be overly concerned."He's such a clutch player in Davis Cup," the captain said of Hewitt, who is not expected to arrive in Melbourne until the end of the week. "You've got to get here and do the work and get used to the conditions and apply yourself, and he's so good at that that he'll play well on the weekend, for sure."He's aware of where he's at and he's working hard, he's hitting the ball very well in practice . . . He's OK, he'll be fine and Davis Cup certainly brings the best out of him."Fatherhood, meanwhile, is apparently doing likewise for Arthurs, whose daughter Amber Leah was born on March 14. He returned to the practice court last week, and yesterday declared Kooyong's centre strip to be just what the Australians ordered. "This is going to be suited much better for Lleyton, I'm sure of that. It's definitely a little quicker than Melbourne Park and that's the way we wanted it."
© 2006 The Age