Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt names De Minaur, Millman for singles

Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt has named a four-man team to face Bosnia-Herzegovina at Memorial Drive in a Davis Cup qualifier starting on Friday.

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Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt has avoided having any player front up for both singles and doubles after naming Alex de Minaur and John Millman to play singles in Australia’s Friday-Saturday tie against Bosnia-Herzegovina at Memorial Drive.

Hewitt, who has been an opponent of the changes to the Davis Cup — which includes squeezing the five matches into two days — was confident he had enough talent in the team to avoid risking an overload for one of his players.

“I think it’s tough, a lot tougher (to play both singles and doubles),” Hewitt said. “Obviously you don’t have the best-of-five-set situation (matches have been reduced to best of three).

“But I think to be able to back up, especially as a No. 1 player, to play that doubles … no one’s ever done it.

“You don’t do it in juniors.

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“It’s not something you’ve ever done, where you play doubles before singles in that format in a competition.

“So for us to throw someone in — and it’s going to be 36-odd degrees on Saturday — if you didn’t get the right result in that match and then have to have somebody back up 20 to 30 minutes later — it is a big ask.

“There are certain things you’re still working through as a captain and with the coaching staff but I’m pretty happy that we’ve got guys who can play both and we have different options.”

Millman, Australia’s No. 2 and world No. 36, will be play the first rubber against Bosnia-Herzegovina No. 1 and world No. 52 Damir Dzumhur.

Dzumhur is not a household name but is widely respected on the circuit, having consistently held a ranking around the 30-mark.

He’s not stranger to Millman, having beaten the Queenslander in four sets in the Australian Open last summer.

But Millman was confident he was in better form one year on and was unfazed about playing the opening match of the tie.

“That was 12 months ago and I feel like in a better position now than what I was 12 months ago,” Millman said. “I think you’ve got to get out of the gates pretty well in this format, best of three sets, but I’m pretty confident with how I’m hitting the ball.

“I’m confident with how the summer has gone for me.”

Bosnia/Herzegovina tennis player Damir Dzumhur during a practice session at Memorial Drive this week. Picture: AAP Image/Roy VanDerVegt

Australian No. 1 de Minaur, ranked No. 36 in the world, will then face world No. 99 Mirza Basic.

The Australian doubles team, which play the first match on Saturday, will be made up of former World No. 2 John Peers, a doubles specialist, and Jordan Thompson.

That match will be followed by the reverse singles.

Hewitt said he had been blessed with Australia’s depth and that four of the five squad members — the unlucky one not to be picked at all was Alexei Popyrin — would have his trust in the singles rubbers.

“The singles, four out of the five guys could have played singles, absolutely,” Hewitt said. “I would have had full confidence in them.

“Alex and Johnny though have played exceptional tennis through the Australian summer and also last year.

“They feel very comfortable in these conditions and I think they’re the two right guys to kick us off.”

The winner of the tie will qualify for an 18-team Davis Cup finals tournament in Madrid in November.

Play begins at 4pm on Friday and 3pm on Saturday.