Australia laying foundations for Davis Cup success

As unpalatable as it may be for the Australians who awoke in Brussels on Monday to the reality that their Davis Cup season is over, the team that on Saturday night had seemed destined to host their nation’s first final since 2003 may just have laid the foundations for some sustained, if overdue, success.

At a time of increasing indifference to Davis Cup around the world, such passionate, euphoric scenes as we saw in both France and Belgium at the weekend provided a timely filip for a competition torn between honouring its traditions and adapting to a rapidly-evolving sporting landscape.

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And while Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson ultimately failed to get the job done against an exceptional David Goffin and admirable Steve Darcis on day three at the Palais 12 Arena, the ideal result in the longer term would be for the weekend’s events to be the catalyst that drives this young Australian team to greater heights.

An opportunity lost was tailor-made for the Kyrgios-as-hero storyline, with Sunday’s reverse-singles battle of the No.1s coming after the Canberran’s fine recovery from two-sets-to-one down against Darcis on the slow red clay.

Indeed, it is fascinating to compare Kyrgios, the committed Davis Cup regular, to Kyrgios, the tour player who freely admits to a professionalism deficit. He seems invested, in a good place, in control of his emotions – his energies channelled by the urgings of captain Lleyton Hewitt, his spirits buoyed by the vocal court-side support of friends such as Thanasi Kokkinakis (himself “gutted” to have been omitted from the original quartet), Alex Di Minaur and Matt Reid.

It was not to be this time, but there was no lack of desire or application. A mangled racquet after that last, decisive break of serve in the fourth set was a break easily forgiven. “When he is playing at that level he is up there with the best in the world,” Kyrgios said of Goffin. “He served unbelievably well today. He was moving great. Hitting great. He was too good.”

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For Thompson, a late substitution for John Millman in the deciding rubber, what had been a dream Davis Cup beginning via singles successes against the Czechs and Americans at home, and then a clinical doubles partnership with John Peers to outlclass Ruben Bemelmans and Arthur De Greef, Sunday brought a painful reality check.

Singles. Away, on an unfavourable surface. Inside a cauldron filled with raucous red-clad Belgians. Facing a vastly more experienced opponent who had been there several times before. The stakes high and the pressure intense. An experience the 22-year-old will forget is also one he can learn plenty from.

“Disappointment” was the word that best summed it all up for Hewitt, who admitted in his post-tie media conference to feelings that were still horribly raw. But he was also proud of the effort, having stressed to his players that “if it hurts, it means something”.

Yep. It hurt.

“These guys take a lot of pride in representing their country, and wearing the green and gold,’’ said the captain, who played in the last of Australia’s 28 winning teams, 14 years ago, and will have to wait at least one more for the next opportunity. “They’ll bounce back.”

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There was a telling comment, too, from Kyrgios about the camaraderie that is clearly building. “We win as a team, we lose as a team,” he said. Which is as it should be, but also a sign that a tie that got away might be remembered before too much longer as one that was also the start of something.