One
of Lleyton Hewitt's first tasks as Australian Davis Cup captain will be to
bring tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios back into the fold.
Kyrgios
was dumped from the Davis Cup squad for last month's semi-final against Great
Britain after a turbulent year of ill-disciplined incidents, most notably his
blow-up with Stan Wawrinka, that led to him being fined and slapped with a
suspended ban by the ATP.
Hewitt,
who officially took over from interim skipper Wally Masur on Tuesday, already
enjoys a good relationship with the fiery 20-year-old and will speak with him
in the coming days about a return to the Davis Cup team.
"When
I came on (early in my career), I didn't always have the best image out there
either," Hewitt said on Tuesday.
"So
it's about dealing with that and learning from the mistakes that you've made
over time and becoming not only a better person off the court but also a better
tennis player.
"Nick,
I think, is really finding himself at the moment but he has massive up side and
I think with the right people around him he can really improve leaps and bounds
in the next year or two and hopefully hold up a grand slam trophy."
Like
Kyrgios, Davis Cup teammate Bernard Tomic endured some growing pains early in
his career, and Hewitt pointed to his recent rise into the top 20 rankings as
an example of what can be achieved with greater experience and maturity.
But
Hewitt said it wouldn't be his job to completely tame the wild child of
Australian tennis.
"He's
got to be who is to a certain extent," he said. "I don't think Nick
realises how powerful his image can be.
"He
is so good for the sport of tennis in so many ways ... if he can control (his
behaviour) to a certain line.
"He
brings so many different people to watch our great sport. He does that not only
in Australia but across the globe.
"In
some ways, he's like a basketball player trying to play tennis ... it's a great
image for our game as long as he does it the right way and that's obviously
what we're trying to put in place with him."
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