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10/28/10 10:04 PM | Johan Lindahl
Newly appointed Australian Davis Cup captain Patrick Rafter will still require the services of 29-year-old Lleyton Hewitt as the former tennis powerhouse nation tries to dig itself out of a deep trough in the sport.
Hewitt at a No. 54 ranking is the lone Aussie in the ATP Top 100 and is currently recovering form a hand injury sustained in a September Davis Cup defeat by Belgium which kept the 28-time champion in the lower Asian zonal group of the worldwide team competition.
"You don't see a Lleyton come around very often, maybe once every 20 years -- he was a freak," said two-time US Open winner Rafter, once a mentor to Hewitt.
But Rafter is suggesting that under a five-year development plan, Australia can return more players into the ranking Top 100. "Obviously Lleyton is one of the greatest Davis Cup players the world has ever seen. He is integral to Australia right now, he's the man we need. Hopefully the young guys will be able to feed off him."
Amid the optimism, Davis Cup coach Tony Roche, returning to the position he held a decade ago, said that the nation's tennis has never been at a lower ebb. "I don't think we can get any lower than where we are right now," said the 65-year-old. "We will get back to the good old days, there's no question."
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