AUSTRALIAN tennis captain John Fitzgerald said that Lleyton Hewitt (in pix) would recover in time for the Davis Cup semifinal against Switzerland that will feature the man who succeeded Hewitt as Wimbledon champion.
Fitzgerald said the September 19-21 match in Melbourne against a Swiss team including Wimbledon winner Roger Federer will bring out the best in Hewitt, whose recent form slump culminated in his surprise first-round loss at Wimbledon.
Hewitt's downward spiral has cost him his world No. 1 ranking, while he has also changed his coach and become embroiled in a legal battle with men's tennis governing body, the ATP.
But Fitzgerald said too much was being read into Hewitt's first-round loss to unheralded Croatian qualifier Ivo Karlovic, citing the defeat as "unusual".
"He's enough of a professional to bounce back and it was a very unusual matchup for him," Fitzgerald said.
"It took a guy who was 6 foot 10 and serving like a genius to beat him. Also the (Wimbledon centre) court is very green on the first day and it turned into a different game."
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