Australia finished runners-up in the Davis Cup under the captaincy of Lleyton Hewitt for the second consecutive year. This meant he achieved a rather unwanted double as a captain over two decades after doing it as a player. Hewitt featured as a player in 2000 and 2001 when Australia secured second place for two years on the trot.
Hence, he has now finished runner-up in the Davis Cup for two consecutive years twice, once as a player and now as a coach. He is the only one to achieve his unenviable record in the team tournament’s Open Era from 1973. In these 50 years, only five times has a team finished second for two consecutive years.
Italy annihilated Australia in this season’s Davis Cup final, winning 2-0. The men from Down Under failed to improve upon their results from the previous year. In 2022, first-time champions Canada defeated Australia in the final by a similar scoreline.
During the 2022 and 2023 campaigns, the Aussies had very similar squads in the knockout stage. In both years, Hewitt captained the team which had De Minaur, Max Purcell, Matthew Ebden, and Jordan Thompson. Thanasi Kokkinakis rounded up the group in 2022, while 2023 saw Alexei Popyrin take his place.
Over 20 years ago, Hewitt suffered a similar fate of two back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Davis Cup, but as a player. In 2001, France got the best of Australia 3-2 as the competition followed the much-loved older format. Hewitt lost the opening singles fixture but bounced back to win his next, the fourth match of the tie, to draw level 2-2. France, though, won the decider and lifted the title.
A year before, Australia fell against Spain, who won the summit clash 3-1. Hewitt bagged the opening encounter but that would be the only match the Davis Cup’s second-most successful side would win. Hewitt got his revenge in 2003 when Australia beat Spain to lift their 28th Davis Cup championship. It was his second title, the country’s last to date.
Lleyton Hewitt and Australia’s 2023 Davis Cup journey
As 2022 Davis Cup finalists, Australia were exempt from undergoing the qualifying process. In the group stage in September, they were pooled in Group B alongside Great Britain, France, and Switzerland. They lost their first tie against the Brits, who topped with a perfect 3-0. However, Hewitt and company bounced back to win the next two to advance with a 2-1 record.
Come November, Australia faced Czechia in the quarterfinals. Despite a loss in the first singles clash, they progressed with a 2-1 margin. They faced surprise package Finland in the semifinals. The Nordic country shocked defending champions Canada in the quarterfinals in their best-ever campaign. Australia ended the fairytale run and blanked Finland 2-0.
Hewitt and Australia would have fancied going one step beyond their 2022 finish and lifting the title. However, they ran into a white-hot Jannik Sinner and an inspired Italy. After losing the first singles match, Hewitt would have hoped his highest-ranked player, De Minaur, would restore parity. The World No.12, though surrendered spectacularly to Sinner, suffering a bagel in the second set. Hewitt and Australia’s 20-year wait for a Davis Cup title continues.
