Lleyton Hewitt and Alex de Minaur have bared their frustration about Nick Kyrgios’ prolonged Davis Cup snub after Kyrgios unashamedly prioritised a six-figure pay day in Saudi Arabia.
Davis Cup captain Hewitt’s squad of de Minaur, Jordan Thompson, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Wimbledon doubles champions Max Purcell and Matt Ebden defied the odds to reach Australia’s first Cup decider in 19 years in Malaga, Spain, but lost the final to Canada.
First-time champions Canada had top-20 pair Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov available and proved far too good, whereas 24th-ranked de Minaur led Australia’s charge in Kyrgios’ absence.
Lleyton Hewitt guided Australia into their first Davis Cup final in 19 years.Credit:Getty Images
Kyrgios is Australia’s No.1 singles and doubles player and reached his maiden grand slam singles final at Wimbledon in a career-best season but hasn’t represented his country in three years.
Nick Kyrgios is headed for a lucrative tournament in Saudi Arabia.Credit:AP
He will instead take part in a lucrative exhibition event, the heavily criticised Diriyah Tennis Cup, from December 8 to 10 in Saudi Arabia, which he is set to score a six-figure appearance fee for.
Kyrgios has also signed up to play in the World Tennis League in Dubai, between December 19 and 24. “Saudi Arabia and Dubai is all that’s left. You know I gotta get the bag,” he posted on Instagram about his plans.
Davis Cup advocate de Minaur was superb throughout the qualification period and lead-in to the final but went down in straight sets to world No.6 Auger-Aliassime in the final.
An exasperated Hewitt was unable to shed any light afterwards on when, or if, Kyrgios would ever return to the Davis Cup fold.
“I don’t know. You have to ask him. I can’t try any harder,” Hewitt said, while adding that “of course” he had tried to convince him.
“I try and come here with the best possible team we could field.” De Minaur offered a similarly frustrated response: “I have tried as well. Just wasn’t meant to be.”
A social media user this week also questioned where Kyrgios was in thinly veiled criticism under a de Minaur Instagram post, where he praised Australia’s Davis Cup squad and described representing his country as “no greater honour”. Kyrgios’ response was simple: “About to go to Saudi for 6 figures actually.”
The sport’s greatest showman has tournament directors the world over clamouring for him to play in their events.
He ended his competitive season at the ATP Finals, playing doubles alongside Kokkinakis after they earned their spot with a shock Australian Open triumph in January. Kyrgios also played an exhibition match against Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie in Mexico City in mid-November.
Norrie is involved in the Saudi Arabia exhibition event, too, alongside the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Alex Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Stan Wawrinka and Andrey Rublev.
Amnesty International UK’s Felix Jakens accused Norrie of taking part in “the latest jamboree of Saudi sportswashing” and called on him to use his platform to condemn human rights issues in the country.
But Norrie said it was not his role to get involved in “individual government politics” and that the exhibition tournament would be ideal preparation for the Australian Open.
