ITF ban on TA can end my Davis Cup career: Hewitt

Melbourne, May 02: An utterly disappointed Lleyton Hewitt says his Davis Cup career could be over if the Tennis Australia (TA) was banned from competing in the tournament

next year for boycotting the tie against India.

"Now, once again, we are in the hands of the ITF regarding any sanction they may impose on Tennis Australia and the Australian Davis Cup team," Hewitt said.

"That decision could have severe ramifications for me as a player, and could effectively end my Davis Cup career," he wrote on his blog.

"Whilst I have been a winning team member twice, I would be devastated if this was the way for my career playing for my country ended. As far as I'm concerned I still have unfinished business in Davis Cup, including getting Australia back into the World Group," he added.

The 28-tear-old said the ITF's failure to move the May 8-10 India tie from Chennai to a neutral venue was "possibly the most disappointing of all".

"I had made the commitment to forgo my French Open preparations to play in India even though I am trying to re-establish myself in the world rankings following an injury," Hewitt said.

"It's a bit like a red rag to a bull, risk wise, in my opinion, yet the ITF have showed a lack of protection and concern for the safety of the players," Hewitt said. The Australian tennis ace said he felt let down by the ITF for a few more decisions.

"However, I must say I feel very let down by the ITF with a few decisions lately relating to Davis Cup," he said.

"The first has been their awarding of ATP ranking points to the competition to try to attract certain players to take part in the competition.”

"The problem is they have only awarded them to the World Group section. In my opinion a player shouldn't require the incentive of ranking points to represent their country in a competition that has been running for more than 100 years."

Hewitt also criticised the scheduling of the zonal ties, a situation he said was "creating an uneven playing field for players and is completely lacking in consistency".

"By creating this new date in May, the ITF is forcing players in the zonal sections to choose between their own personal ranking and representing their country, again for no points," Hewitt said.