Australian Open doubles champion Nick Kyrgios left out of Davis Cup squad
Nick Kyrgios' miraculous run to the 2022 Australian Open doubles title was not enough to get him into the good books of Australia's Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt.
Australia announced their squad to take on Hungary in the 2022 Davis Cup qualifiers on Friday, with Kyrgios a notable omission. The tie will take place between 4-5 March at the Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney.
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT
4-5 March
HUN 
Sydney (Australia)
🇦🇺TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT🇦🇺
📅 4-5 March
🎾 🇦🇺 AUS 🆚 HUN 🇭🇺
📍 Sydney (Australia)
#DavisCup #byRakuten https://t.co/oziNVw7Z4B
Australia have opted for the services of their No. 1 and No. 3 singles players, Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin. Doubles mainstay John Peers also found a spot in the team alongside Kyrgios' partner during his Melbourne Park exploits, Thanasi Kokkinakis. The final spot in the team went to Luke Saville, who will be making his debut at the tournament this year.
“Alex has had most of his recent success in Sydney... Thanasi had a fantastic Australian summer. He really cemented himself as a top 100 player again," Hewitt said. “Popyrin got an opportunity to play a big Davis Cup match in the finals last year. He has a lot of firepower out there, a lot of weapons as well and certainly an option for singles or doubles.
“John Peers has been a regular in the Davis Cup team for a number of years now, he’s a top 15 doubles player. He won the Sydney Tennis Classic a couple of weeks ago and played exceptionally well with Luke Saville at the ATP Cup last month. And Luke gets his first opportunity to represent Australia at Davis Cup," he added.
🇭🇺TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT🇭🇺
📅 4-5 March
🎾🇦🇺 AUS 🆚 HUN 🇭🇺
📍 Sydney (Australia)
#DavisCup #byRakuten https://t.co/7lnPcGZA7a
Hungary, meanwhile, will be represented by Marton Fucsovics, Zsombor Piros, Fabian Marozsan, Mate Valkusz and Peter Fajita. With an ATP ranking of 39, Fucsovics is their only player in the top 100.
The two countries met in the group stage of last year's Davis Cup Finals, a tie that finished 2-1 in favor of Australia.
Nick Kyrgios has represented Australia at the Davis Cup in five editions
Nick Kyrgios made his debut for Australia at the Davis Cup against Poland in the World Group playoffs in 2014. While he lost the doubles match alongside Chris Guccione, he defeated Michal Przysiezny in the singles rubber. In the final stage, the 26-year-old lost both singles ties against France (vs Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet).
In the 2015 edition, the Australian won both singles rubbers against Uzbekistan (vs Denis Istomin and Sanjar Fayziev) in the playoffs. Kyrgios played only one match in the World Group, a loss against Kazakhstan's Aleksandr Nedovyesov in the quarterfinals. Australia progressed to the last four, where they lost to Great Britain.
Kyrgios had his most success in 2017, winning five out of six singles rubbers. The Australian followed up his win over Slovakia's Andrej Martin with victories against the Czech Replublic's John Satral, and Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey.
In the semifinals against Belgium, the former World No. 13 defeated Steve Darcis in his first rubber but fell to David Goffin. Australia did not advance to the final.
Nick Kyrgios got Australia's 2019 Davis Cup campaign off to a winning start🦘
The outspoken star beat Colombia's Alejandro Gonzalez 6-4, 6-4 in Madrid💪
🎾
#DavisCupMadridFinals https://t.co/RDoDgeRs5G
In 2018, Kyrgios survived a stern test from Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round, but succumbed to Alexander Zverev in the reverse singles rubber. The 2019 edition saw the Australian win both of his singles rubbers, against Ecuador's Alejandro Gonzalez and Belgium's Darcis once again.
But he withdrew before the quarterfinals against Canada with an injury and hasn't been called up to the Davis Cup team since then. Overall, Kyrgios has a 11-6 record in the tournament.