Australia will have to give up their top player Nick Kyrgios in the Davis Cup play-off against host Austria in Graz from 14 to 16 September.
The 30th World Ranking Kyrgios has rejected his captain Lleyton Hewitt for the away game. Knee problems are supposed to be the reason. Kyrgios had clearly failed in the third round of the US Open due to Grand Slam record winner Roger Federer (Switzerland/No. 2) and had again written negative battle lines in the round before due to lack of discipline.
The team from Down Under will play with Alex De Minaur (ATP No. 45) and John Millman (ATP No. 55) as singles players against Dominic Thiem’s Austria team. John Peers, Alex Bolt and Thanasi Kokkinakis are also nominated.
Austria’s team boss Stefan Koubek officially announces his squad on Tuesday at 3 pm. The matches will be played in Graz on a sand court on the exhibition grounds, the grandstands offer space for a total of 5,800 spectators.
Austria beat hosts Russia 3-1 in Moscow on April without top player Dominic Thiem and budget number two Gerald Melzer. Should the Alpine Republic win the duel, it would return to the Bel Etage of the Davis Cup for the first time since 2013.
The Australian team has won the Davis Cup trophy 28 times so far, most recently in 2003, after captain Lleyton Hewitt’s quartet lost 3-1 to Germany in the first round in February of this year in Brisbane.