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Lleyton Hewitt's genius move as tennis fans blast 'embarrassing' mistake in Aussie Davis Cup win

American captain Bob Bryan is copping it after a selection gamble backfired against Australia.

sam goodwin
Sports Editor
·6-min read

Lleyton Hewitt is being praised for a tactical masterclass that helped Australia beat the USA and advance to the semi-finals of the Davis Cup in Malaga. But American captain Bob Bryan is being torched by fans after a massive gamble backfired spectacularly.

Hewitt once again showed his genius on Thursday night after two huge selection calls paid off in spades for Australia. Firstly he went with Thanasi Kokkinakis in the opening singles rubber against Ben Shelton, despite having the option to use two other players who are ranked higher than the World No.77.

Lleyton Hewitt celebrates with his Aussie players after their Davis Cup win over USA.
Lleyton Hewitt and Australia beat Bob Bryan and the USA in the Davis Cup quarter-finals. (Image: Jose Morgado/Getty)

Alexei Popyrin (World No.24) and Jordan Thompson (26) would appear to be better options on paper, but Hewitt continues to show faith in Kokkinakis - who keeps on delivering at Davis Cup level. And he did again on Thursday night, taking down World No.22 Shelton in a stunning 6-1 4-6 7-6 (16-14) upset.

Kokkinakis saved four match-points to prevail in an epic tie-breaker, celebrating wildly with Hewitt on the sidelines after the final point. But after Alex de Minaur was beaten 6-3 6-4 by Taylor Fritz in the battle of the No.1s, it all came down to the deicing doubles.

Thanasi Kokkinakis, pictured here after his win over Ben Shelton.
Thanasi Kokkinakis celebrates after his win over Ben Shelton. (Photo by Francisco Macia/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)

And the match was flipped on its head when US captain Bryan made the staggering call to ditch doubles specialists Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram, who won silver at the Paris Olympics earlier this year and have a world of experience. Bryan instead went with Shelton and Tommy Paul, and it backfired brutally when they lost 6-4 6-4 to Thompson and Matt Ebden.

Hewitt once again showed his genius by bringing in Thompson, after Ebden had combined well with Purcell in previous Davis Cup ties. And Thompson repaid Hewitt for his faith as the Aussies sealed a 2-1 victory to advance to the semi-finals for the third time in three years.

"Incredible. When we got the break there at 4-4, I could have run over the top of the whole bench," Thompson said afterwards. "I was wearing my heart on my sleeve, you know, bleeding green and gold." Bryan said he switched out Ram and Krajicek in an attempt to stun the Aussies, admitting: "We were hoping to catch the Aussies a little bit by surprise."

Jordan Thompson and Matt Ebden.
Jordan Thompson and Matt Ebden got the job done for Australia. (Photo by Giampiero Sposito/Getty Images)

But Hewitt countered: "It didn't surprise us that much, to be honest ... I'd seen them do drills during the week..." Ebden added: "We were expecting the other pair, but we knew they've got incredible players who can play doubles, so we were ready." American fans were left filthy over the costly mistake, describing it as "embarrassing" and "disrespectful" to Ram and Krajicek.

Kokkinakis has barely played over the last few months outside of a Challenger Tour title he won at the NSW Open. "I don't know if I've been that pumped up in my life. I wanted that for my team," he said. "It could have gone either way, but I kept my nerve."

Hewitt said he had plenty of faith in Kokkinakis despite him being the lowest-ranked player on the team. "He played like the winner of the NSW Open Challenger about a month ago," Hewitt laughed.

"Obviously, never easy making these decisions but we know if we can get him going out there and playing his highest level, he's dangerous for anybody, I don't care who it is. I had full belief in him. We kind of put him on ice, pretty much until now, and let him off the leash today, and he fully repaid us."

Hewitt and the Aussies will now face Italy in the semi-finals on Saturday (Sunday Aussie time), after the Italians beat Argentina 2-1 in the last quarter-final. Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini got the job done in the deciding doubles rubber, beating Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 6-4 7-5.

Francisco Cerundolo had given Argentina a 1-0 lead with a 6-4 6-1 victory over Lorenzo Musetti, before Sinner got Italy back level with a 6-2 6-1 thrashing of Sebastian Baez. It means Australia will get a chance to exact some revenge after they were beaten by Italy in last year's Davis Cup final.

But it shapes as a tricky task, especially for de Minaur. The Aussie has an 0-8 career record against World No.1 Sinner, and the Italian star is in red-hot form.

The other semi-final will see Germany do battle with the Netherlands for a place in Sunday's final (Monday Aussie time). Australia have finished runners-up for the last two years and haven't won the prestigious Davis Cup trophy since 2003, despite winning it 28 times throughout its history.