Rafter admits Davis Cup glory will be difficult

BRISBANE, Australia — In his first formal appearance as Davis Cup captain, Pat Rafter has admitted getting the 28-time champions back in the top echelon of the international team competition will be a difficult challenge. Only the country's fifth Davis Cup captain in 60 years, Rafter said Thursday there is enough young talent to have six Australians in the top 100 within five years. Former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt, now at No. 54, is Australia's sole representative in the top 100. Rafter, a two-time U.S. Open champion and twice Wimbledon runner-up, said the Australian team will still rely heavily on Hewitt for the "next couple of years," as it attempts to get back into the elite 16-nation World Group for the first time since 2007. "You don't see a Lleyton come around very often, maybe once every 20 years — he was a freak," Rafter said. "So we don't have a Lleyton coming through but guys like Bernard Tomic ... and there's young kids like James Duckworth, Jason Kubler and Ben Mitchell. We can create really good players out of these guys. Hewitt "is integral to Australia right now, he's the man we need. Hopefully the young guys will be able to feed off him." Hewitt has a 44-12 win-loss record overall in Davis Cup play, including 36-9 in singles. Reappointed coach Tony Roche admitted Australian tennis is in trouble after missing out again on promotion to the world group. "I don't think we can get any lower than where we are right now," he said. "But (ex-captain) John Newcombe and I experienced it when we took over." In 1995, Australia lost to Hungary at Budapest to be relegated from the World Group. "It was a low point of Australian tennis, we had never been there before. (But) they all committed to work that bit harder, to pull together and before we knew it a couple of years later we had won the Davis Cup." Rafter was part of the squad which helped Australia reach the 1999 Davis Cup final in France, but missed the match because of injury. Australia is ranked 20th in Davis Cup play and lost in a playoff to Belgium in September at Cairns, in far north Australia, in a World Group playoff. It hasn't won the Davis Cup since beating Spain in the final in 2003 at Melbourne. – AP