Lleyton Hewitt is confident Australia's Davis Cup future is in safe hands but says it is unlikely to involve Bernard Tomic any time soon.
Hewitt - in his role as Davis Cup captain - spent this week keeping a close eye on Australia's young guns at the Surbiton International in London.
The Challenger Tour event has seen Nick Kyrgios, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Alex de Minaur, Alex Bolt, Matt Ebden and Jordan Thompson all feature as they step up their preparations for the grass season.
Former world No.17 Tomic, who crashed out in the first round of the French Open to lucky loser Marco Trungelliti, has seen his career go into freefall and will need to progress through qualifying to play at Wimbledon next month.
The 25-year-old's ranking has tumbled to No.206 and Hewitt, who was highly critical of Tomic's decision to appear on a reality TV show in January, has effectively washed his hands of the controversial Queenslander.
"He's got to work a lot harder if he wants to get back, that's for sure," Hewitt told AAP.
"To be fair he did well to battle through qualifiers to reach the French Open.
"But to then get beat by a lucky loser in very ordinary fashion ... that's pretty disappointing.
"He's got quite a way to get back to where he once was and that is going to be very difficult for him."
Hewitt this week played doubles with Bolt having done the same with 19-year-old de Minaur in Portugal last month.
The former world No.1 said being on court with the young players is his way of assessing them.
"I actually enjoy getting out on court and helping these guys," he said.
"You get to know how they handle different situations and react under pressure and it helps me as Davis Cup captain to mentor these guys."
Australia's men endured a dire French Open with not one player reaching round two for only the second time in 70 years.
Kyrgios also pulled out injured on the eve of his opener against Tomic with De Minaur, Thompson, Ebden, John Millman and James Duckworth all falling at the first hurdle.
The flop replicated Australia's worst Wimbledon in 80 years 12 months ago but Hewitt remains optimistic.
"Nick is our main player and he had to pull out," he said.
"All things considered I would expect him to be pushing deeper into the second week if he was fit.
"Some of the other had tough draws. Alex lost to Kyle Edmund, James Duckworth played (Marin) Cilic and Millman played (Denis) Shapovalov, so it's not easy.
"A lot of them are early 20s and hopefully they can be pushing for the top 50."
Share
