"It's ridiculous" - Lleyton Hewitt launches scathing attack on 'stupid' Davis Cup format

Former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt criticized the Davis Cup over the international team tennis tournament's format. According to Hewitt, who is currently serving as the Australian Davis Cup team's captain, the revamped format has greatly inconvenienced his players.

The now-retired Hewitt produced his best tennis across the late 1990s and early 2000s. In his prime, he won the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. Hewitt was also successful while representing Australia. The former World No. 1 was on the winning Australian Davis Cup team twice, first in 1999 and then again four years later.

Since 2016, Hewitt has been the captain of the Australian team for the prestigious international event. His initial years in the captaincy role saw him play as well, but now, he exclusively serves the team as the captain. Australia recently made it to the 2024 Davis Cup quarterfinals despite the absence of their top-ranked ATP tour player, Alex de Minaur.

However, according to Hewitt, the Group Stage success was achieved by a team of worn-out players (Alexei Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Matthew Ebden, Max Purcell and Thanasi Kokkinakis), who had very little time to recover after their respective US Open campaigns. The former World No. 1 spoke about the Davis Cup in the wake of Australia's loss to Spain in the Group Stage, which proved inconsequential as far as his team's quarterfinal aspirations were concerned.

"We had a number of our guys this week pretty much wrecked, it’s stuff that only our locker room knows about. It would have been very easy for some of my guys not to come here this week but they did it, they put on the green and gold and did everything I asked of them. I’m very proud of them. It’s not easy asking players to play two days after a Grand Slam ends," Lleyton Hewitt said (via Punto de Break).

The two-time Major winner went on to chastise the new Davis Cup format as he revisited his playing days in the tournament.

"In the old format, I had to do it too, but you had until Friday to rest: now you have to play on Tuesday, it’s ridiculous. But that’s the stupid part of this format, isn’t it? I can keep saying it, but the format is what it is, and we’ll do what we have to do to advance and give ourselves a chance to lift the title," Hewitt added.

This is not the first time that Hewitt has taken a swipe at the changed format of the international team tennis event. In 2022, the former World No. 1 opined that the format was not at all supportive of doubles tennis.

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"We just keep putting Band-Aids" - Lleyton Hewitt's Davis Cup concerns from 2022

Lleyton Hewitt at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals Group Stage match between Australia and Czechia (Source: Getty)

After Australia's loss to Canada in the final of the 2022 Davis Cup, Lleyton Hewitt criticized the tournament's revamped format. According to Hewitt, the format was a far cry from what he was used to when he was a player.

The two-time Major champion particularly criticized the lack of doubles, which was a direct consequence of the format revamp.

"We just keep putting Band-Aids - well, we don't, but certain people put Band-Aids on problems. It's not fixing the problem. I can't imagine, for the life of me - you know, I came up playing with the best doubles team in the world, the Woodies, at the time. They come into this format and they don't get to play a match? And they have made that a massive priority? I don't think that's right," Hewitt said (via Tennis Majors).

The knockout stages of the Davis Cup Finals are set to commence on Tuesday, November 19. Lleyton Hewitt's Australian team will contest for this year's Davis Cup title along with the Netherlands, Spain, the USA, Germany, Canada, Argentina, and defending champions Italy.