Lleyton Hewitt has no regrets about giving Alex de Minaur ATP Tour rest in decisive Fed Cup mixed doubles match
federation cup
Hewitt has no regrets over De Minaur’s absence from decisive Fed Cup mixed doubles tie
Australia captain says he and De Minaur are looking at the bigger picture
January 9, 2026
2026 Getty Images
Australia drew level with Poland after Alex De Minaur beat Hubert Hurkacz in Sydney.
Written by ATP Staff
Australia captain Lleyton Hewitt has no regrets about resting Alex de Minaur in the deciding mixed doubles tie against Poland in the Fed Cup quarter-finals in Sydney on Friday night.
After leveling the tie in two hours and 18 minutes against Hubert Hurkacz in the mixed doubles match, De Minaur did not play with Storm Hunter in the mixed doubles match as he did on Tuesday when Australia needed mixed points to beat the Czech Republic to advance to the group stage.
Hunter teamed up with John-Patrick Smith to defeat Jan Zielinski and Katarzyna Kawa 6-4, 6-0.
“Alex has been feeling a little under the weather the past few days,” Hewitt said. “He’s done a lot of training in the offseason to get ready for the five-set match. We felt the best thing for him physically moving forward was to not raise his hand tonight in the mixed match.
“Also, if you’re in the second game, turn around right away and start playing. You just don’t want to risk getting hurt at some point, especially tonight with the amount of movement he had to do against a good player.”
De Minaur turned in a heroic performance in the singles match, saving nine break points in his first four service games before winning 21 consecutive service points late in the second set.
He won 82% of his first serves in this match, a huge improvement from the 55% and 8 double faults he had earlier in the match when he lost to Caspar Ruud in the first game.
“I think what was a little strange to me was the number of double faults,” De Minaur said. “It’s something I don’t normally hit. Obviously, it felt like an anomaly. We went back to practice and just did some things, some different feels.
“I’m really happy with my serving performance over the next two games, which kind of shows all the hard work I’ve put in. Of course, if I can get one serve in and hit a lot of them, it will make my life easier. It definitely makes me a more dangerous opponent.”
