Rafter Names Australian Davis Cup Team

Written by: Staff on 29th June 2011

Rafter Names Australian Davis Cup Team

Bernard Tomic of Australia returns to Xavier Malisse of Belgium during their fourth round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 27 June 2011. EPA/GEOFF CADDICK |

Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter has named Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic in a five-man squad to spearhead Australia in next month’s tie against China in Beijing.

Hewitt and Tomic will be joined by Chris Guccione, Peter Luczak and Marinko Matosevic for the Asia/Oceania Group I tie from July 8-10.

The squad will be cut to four closer to the tie.

The winner of the Australia’s tie against China in Beijing will progress to the World Group playoffs in September.

Rafter warned his players against complacency because of the lowly status of China’s top men’s players.

“It is a very winnable tie for us and we go in with a very strong team,” he said.

“The Chinese are awkward, they are very disciplined. They do the fundamentals very well, they play very well at home.

“Our biggest problem is if we are complacent and we take them easy that will be the one thing that I will jam down their throat they will be very tough [to play against].”