The door is open for Australia to host one leg of the Davis Cup group stages in 2024 after Lleyton Hewitt said he was “sick” of playing on the same surfaces following back-to-back final defeats in Spain.
Hewitt’s team have lost to Canada and Italy in successive finals, continuing a 20-year Davis Cup title drought, with their presence in the final impacting the capacity for a clash in Australia.
After a change in format in 2019, the only home-and-away elements of the Davis Cup now happens in January in the qualifying round, and the two finalists from the previous year get a bye that takes them straight into the group stages.
Those stages have until now been held in European venues, with three already set in stone next year for Valencia in Spain, Bologna in Italy and Manchester in England.
The quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final will again be held in Malaga, as they were this year, where the Aussies were wiped 2-0 in the showdown with the Italians.
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In the wake of that loss, Hewitt, who won the Davis Cup as a player in 2003 and experienced several huge clashes on home soil, again bemoaned the current format.
“Malaga has put on a great event, in terms of what they can do with the format that they’ve got – their hands are tied. There’s no home-and-away and there’s no (best of) five sets, so it’s not ideal,” he said.
“We are playing on a surface that I’m really sick of playing on, to be honest. That’s not what Davis Cup is about – it’s playing on clay, grass, outdoor elements.
“It’s obviously pretty frustrating, I think, that we don’t get all the different surfaces and conditions throughout Davis Cup anymore and especially in the big matches as well.”
But as the draw was completed for 2024, Australian doubles legend Mark Woodforde, the chair of the International Tennis Federation’s Davis Cup committee, said one venue for group clashed remained available and the option was there for Tennis Australia to put in a bid.
“We understand there is a potential request to follow the process that is in place to put a bid in for the group stages, which has always been the case,” Woodforde said.
“That possibility has been there, it just hasn’t been exercised by Tennis Australia. Losing the final shouldn’t deter the idea and, hopefully, Tennis Australia will continue with the process of hosting next year.
“The possibility is there, it’s really up to them, the ball’s literally in their court.”
Tennis Australia has been contacted for comment.
Australia will host to a Billie Jean King Cup tie for the first time in more than four years in April, 2024.
The Australian team is set to host Mexico in a qualifying tie, in a location still to be decided, needing to win to qualify for the 12-nation finals, which will be played in Spain in November 2024.