Nick Kyrgios has missed selection in Australia’s five-man team for the Davis Cup finals qualifier against Bosnia and Herzegovina,with the country’s No.3-ranked player Matthew Ebden also overlooked again.
Lleyton Hewitt’s squad for the Adelaide tie includes Australia’s leading two singles players,Alex de Minaur and John Millman,doubles specialist John Peers,as well as Jordan Thompson and young gun Alexei Popyrin.
Kyrgios is on the outer less than a week after he was taken to task by Hewitt forhaving a pot shot at the Davis Cup captain on social media.
Aside from questions about his commitment,the 23-year-old’s ranking has nosedived. He is forecast to slip to No.67 in the world after the Australian Open following a first-round defeat to a red-hot Milos Raonic,the big-serving Canadian who upset fourth seed Alex Zverev on Monday and will play on Wednesday for a place in the semi-finals.
Loading
Kyrgios,an avid basketball fan,had been scheduled to make a promotional appearance at a training session with NBL team Melbourne United on Tuesday but withdrew.
There was also no place in the team for world No.48 Ebden. Australia’s third-ranked singles player leading into the Open behind de Minaur (ranked 29th) and Millman (37th),the 31-year-old hasrevealed concerns around communication in the Davis Cup set-up after being knocked out in the second round at Melbourne Park by Rafael Nadal.
Ebden’s comments last week followedBernard Tomic’s savage criticism of Hewitt,claiming the former world No.1 favoured particular players,was liked by no one and had “ruined the system”.