Hewitt cool on mooted Davis Cup change

Lleyton Hewitt, Australia's greatest Davis Cup warrior, is not impressed about a proposal to remove best-of-five-set matches from the 117-year-old teams' event.

Lleyton Hewitt is not happy as tennis officials move ever closer to scrapping best-of-five-set matches from Davis Cup.

As elite players increasingly boycott the 117-year-old teams' competition, the International Tennis Federation has endorsed reforms to reduce rubbers to best-of-three sets - possibly to be played over two days instead of three.

The ITF said a meeting of its board of directors in Indian Wells had unanimously backed proposed changes for both the Davis Cup and Fed Cup.

The recommendations will be put to the ITF's annual meeting in Vietnam in August, with all changes requiring a formal vote of approval.

Leading players have called for changes to streamline the format of a team tournament run throughout the year, with 14-time grand slam champion Rafael Nadal the latest star to call for a shake-up.

"The ITF need to make changes. I said a lot of years ago," Nadal said.

"And still now there is a new president and new staff that they are trying to make new things, and that's always good.

"We cannot have a Davis Cup champion every year that devaluate the competition."

Novak Djokovic, the only top-10 player to contest the first round of this year's Davis Cup last month, also favours a change to best-of-three-set matches over two days.

Such a scenario would leave best-of-five-set matches seen only at the four annual grand slam events, plus the men's Olympic final.

"I know Lleyton is not particularly impressed," Hewitt's manager told AAP from Indian Wells.

Hewitt is Australia's greatest and most passionate Davis Cup warrior and current captain and he made a career out of carving out epic five-set triumphs.

All up, the former world No.1 won 32 matches that went the distance, his most famous a comeback from two sets down against Roger Federer in Australia's 2003 Davis Cup semi-final triumph over Switzerland 14 years ago.

Only all-time greats Ivan Lendl (36), Ilie Nastase (35) and Pete Sampras (33) have won more five-setters than the South Australian.


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Source: AAP



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