World No.1 Lleyton Hewitt is a confirmed starter for next month’s Davis Cup relegation play-off with India, Australian captain John Fitzgerald said today.Fitzgerald said Hewitt was thrilled at the opportunity to play in the September 20-22 tie in his home town of Adelaide, on the Memorial Drive centre court. "He wants to come home," Fitzgerald told reporters at Memorial Drive today. "He feels this court at Memorial Drive is almost like playing in his backyard, he hasn’t lost a lot of matches on this court over the years.But Mark Philippoussis is yet to declare his availability for the India match. Fitzgerald said he was only hopeful of being able to name the big-serving Scud in his team. Fitzgerald admitted the depth in Australian tennis was not strong and the Indians posed a major threat. Apart from retiree Pat Rafter, Hewitt, Philippoussis and Wayne Arthurs are the only Australians ranked in the world’s top 100.Fitzgerald said Arthurs and Scott Draper were the likely contenders for the second singles berth if Philippoussis decided not to play. But the doubles was of equal concern, with Indian doubles specialists Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi one of the world’s best combinations, having won Wimbledon and the French Open in 1999. "It’s probably fair enough to say they have a doubles team that starts favourite against our guys," Fitzgerald said. "They’re Wimbledon champions, they’re French Open champions and just a year or two ago they were by far the best doubles team in the world, so they’re a tough team."It is critical and we haven’t won as many doubles matches in the last half-a-dozen years as we would have liked." If Australia lose the Adelaide tie, they will be relegated out of the world group next year and be out of contention to win the Cup until at least 2004.
