'Smoke and mirrors': Lleyton Hewitt unimpressed by changes to Davis Cup format
Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt has denounced the Davis Cup's new format, despite the ITF reverting to more home-and-away ties.
The September stage of the Davis Cup will change from having a six-day group stage competition to featuring seven home-or-away series played over two days.
The seven winning teams will join a host nation in the finals in November, which will be played at one venue. Bidding processes for the hosts of next year's finals are already underway, with this year's tournament to take place in Malaga, Spain.
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Matthew Ebden, Max Purcell, Captain Lleyton Hewitt, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Jordan Thompson and Alexei Popyrin of Australia pose for a photo after qualifying for the final 8 of the Davis Cup. Getty Images for ITF
Hewitt has long advocated for the tournament to go back to its roots and home-and-away ties all the way through, including the finals, but said the announcement came with plenty of "smoke and mirrors".
"I've had only a quick look over it, and I was only informed of it, literally, a couple of hours before it got announced to everyone else and the public," Hewitt said.
"But the changes aren't ideal. The home-and-away factors [still are not great], and basically, anyone who wants to buy their way to host a final, can go through the February tie and also the September tie, and straight into the finals.
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"Then there are only seven other spots left for everyone else. I don't think it's on."
The International Tennis Federation announced the changes in conjunction with the Billie Jean King Cup finals, which will transition from 12 teams to an eight-team event to mirror the existing Davis Cup finals format.
The ITF said the change is "part of a long-term strategy to bring the World Cup of Tennis events closer together."
As for Hewitt's team, the Aussie captain said he was hopeful Alex de Minaur would be fit to play in Australia's knockout quarter-final against the United States on November 21.
"(De Minaur) is still a work in progress, he's doing everything he can at the moment over in Europe," Hewitt said.
"Hopefully, in the next two or three weeks we'll have a little bit of a better idea of where he's placed … I'm speaking to him every second day, and it's certainly been a very frustrating time for him.
"This one has been a different case (to previous niggles), and mentally it's been more frustrating.
"The effort he put in, in New York – for him, on one leg basically, to go out and make a quarter-final is pretty exceptional."
