“It was a brutal decision,” he said. “Davis Cup has been my priority for basically my whole career. And, for me, there’s no greater goal than to be able to lift the trophy one day with Lleyton, with the team, for Australia again. So that’s been a top priority of mine. We’ve gotten awfully close for a couple of years.
“My focus is just to keep on improving as a player so I can help out the team when they need me, and I’ve got full faith in all the Aussie players that are going to Ecuador.”
Alex de Minaur’s only tattoo.
Australia last year failed to qualify for the Davis Cup finals for the first time since 2021. Hewitt has named James Duckworth, Aleksander Vukic, Rinky Hijikata, Jordan Thompson and Thanasi Kokkinakis for the Ecuadro clash.
Hewitt said he and de Minaur had held lengthy discussions over whether he should participate, and were comfortable with where they landed.
“When the draw came out it was extremely tough,” Hewitt said. “Considering the time of the year, the conditions, the surface, so many variables … for me, it’s been working with Alex to not put him in a position like he was a year and a half ago and had to play injured for nine months.
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“Big picture in mind, we came up with a plan that we think is the best for him moving forward.”
Hewitt also confirmed world No.50 Alexei Popyrin had made himself unavailable for selection.
“I would have loved to have called on Alexei,” Hewitt said. “Especially with his game style on clay, and the weapons he possesses. After that, obviously, we’ve gone for guys that give us a lot of depth in singles matches, but also we’ve got a couple of good doubles options among the team.
“There’s so many unknowns, though. Not many of our guys have played at that high an altitude or even close to that, so we won’t 100 per cent know the conditions until we get over there. But I feel like we’ve got plenty of choices.”
Australia will play Poland in the United Cup quarter-finals on Friday.
Meanwhile, Serbian Davis Cup captain Viktor Troicki has confirmed Djokovic won’t be part of the Davis Cup team to face Chile on February 6-7.
“A difficult visit to Chile awaits, an awkward time for everyone, straight after the Australian Open. We’ll play on clay right after hardcourt, which doesn’t fit into many players’ schedules as they’re defending a large number of points,” Troicki told Sport Klub in Serbia.
“As far as our best player, Novak Djokovic, is concerned, this is a very awkward time for him. We all expect him to do well and go far at the Australian Open. It wouldn’t be realistic to expect him to fly from Melbourne to Chile straight after a gruelling grand slam, change surfaces and be with us this time.”