De Minaur's ATP Finals, Davis Cup hopes in balance

Lleyton Hewitt concedes there could be a point where Alex de Minaur puts his ATP Finals and Davis Cup dreams on hold in order to prioritise 2025.

De Minaur, who reached the quarter-finals of the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open in 2024, has had a stellar year disrupted by a hip injury suffered in London.

Australia played the Davis Cup group stage without him, and he has been left out of November's tie against the United States for now.

Hewitt described de Minaur's fitness as a "work in progress", but hoped for more clarity within the next two to three weeks.

"I'm speaking to him every second day, and it's certainly been a very frustrating time for him," he said at Thursday's Australian Open launch in Melbourne.

"He's had some small niggles in the past that I guess he could better understand what he needed to do to get over it, to get back to 100 per cent as quickly as possible.

"This one has been a different case, and mentally it's been more frustrating.

"As everyone saw, the effort that he put in in New York, for him on one leg, basically, to go out and make a quarter-final was pretty exceptional, and he's still given himself a chance of being in the Turin (ATP) Finals by doing that as well.

"So he's got to weigh up the priorities now as well."

De Minaur's hopes of reaching the ATP Finals are precariously placed, given only the world's top eight feature.

He has temporarily dropped to world No.9, with Novak Djokovic just ahead of him.

"Obviously he's got to get back out there and play to give himself a chance to still make it," Davis Cup captain Hewitt said.

But there could be a point where the 25-year-old has to pull the pin.

"It depends. The worst thing is if it can be a bigger setback and hurt his Australian Open chances and the preparation going into that," Hewitt said.

"So that's where you've got to weigh up what's more important at the moment, but I think first thing is we've got to get him 100 per cent fit.

"He's got too good a career ahead of him for so many years to come, so he's got to look at the future and what that holds."

Next year, the Davis Cup will return to home-and-away ties, with the winning seven teams joining the host in November's finals.

But an unconvinced Hewitt dismissed the suggestion it was closer to its old format.

"The changes aren't ideal," he said.

"The home-and-away factor's not (closer to what it was) and also, basically, anyone that wants to buy their way to host the final can go through the February tie and also the September tie, and go straight into the finals.

"Then there's only seven other spots left for everyone else. Yeah, I don't think it's on."

If Nick Kyrgios is fit, Hewitt said he would welcome him back into the Davis Cup fold.