Former world No.1 Pat Rafter has been elevated to one of the highest positions in Australian sport, captain of the Davis Cup team.
Rafter, a two-time US Open champion and former Australian of the Year, will form a dream pairing with Tony Roche, who has been re-appointed coach of the team.
Rafter replaces John Fitzgerald and becomes only the fifth man in the past 60 years to captain Australia's Cup team.
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The hugely popular 37-year-old follows on from Fitzgerald (2001-2010), John Newcombe (1995-2000), Neale Fraser (1970-1994) and the legendary Harry Hopman (1950-69).
Hopman also captain-coached the team in 1938-39.
Rafter, who in addition to his back-to-back triumphs in New York in 1997-98 also lost successive Wimbledon finals in 2000-01, now has the onerous task of guiding Australia back into the elite 16-nation World Group for the first time since 2007.
With Cup warrior Lleyton Hewitt sidelined from the reverse singles, Australia narrowly missed promotion to the World Group last month when they lost a playoff 3-2 to Belgium in Cairns.
Hewitt's Davis Cup future had been up in the air following Australia's latest disappointment, but it is now hoped the recruitment of Rafter and Roche will extend his career in the century-old teams' event.
Australia has won 28 Davis Cup trophies, second only to the USA's 32, but a failure to get his hands on the trophy remains one of Rafter's greatest disappointments.
The Queenslander frustratingly had to sit out Australia's 1999 final triumph over France in Nice with a shoulder injury, having helped the team reach the decider.
He then featured in Australia's losing finals against Spain in Barcelona in 2000 and against France in Melbourne in 2001.
Sadly, Rafter's last professional match - before he formalised his retirement a year later - was his controversial involvement in the infamous 2001 Cup final loss to France.
After beating Sebastien Grosjean on day one to level the tie at 1-1, first-year captain Fitzgerald opted to pit Rafter and Hewitt into battle against Cedric Pioline and Fabrice Santoro - rather than play doubles specialists Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs.
But, again hampered by injury, Rafter and Hewitt lost in four sets - before a tearful Arthurs succumbed to Nicolas Escude in the deciding singles rubber the following day in front of his home-city crowd.
During his 10-year reign as captain, Fitzgerald led Australia to two finals, including 2003 glory over Spain in Melbourne, and also to the World Group semi-finals in 2006.
Woodbridge joined the Australian team as coach in July last year, before being replaced on Wednesday by Roche, Rafter's long-time personal coach who returns for a second stint following his successful pairing with Newcombe in the late 1990s.
Fitzgerald and Woodbridge both fully support the appointment of Rafter and Roche.
Australia will begin the long journey back to the World Group with a first-round Asia-Oceania Group I tie against Taiwan in Melbourne from March 5-7.
