Former world number one John Newcombe who retired from the professional game of tennis back in 1981 has said that Pat Rafter alone can’t take men’s tennis to new heights in Australia.
According to the right-hander, it will take more than just Rafter to fix up the current state of Australian tennis.
The Davis Cup side of Australia once again couldn’t perform up to the mark in 2010 and was thus condemned to a fourth season outside the World Group in a row after a heart breaking playoff defeat to Belgium in Cairns.
World number fifty-four, Lleyton Hewitt is currently the only player from Australia who is ranked inside the top100 on the ATP tour. The Sydney resident Newcombe, therefore, insists that there are no chances of any happiness for Rafter in the near future.
“It is a far cry from a decade ago when Rafter was a back-to-back US Open champion and Hewitt spent 80 weeks as world number one. There is a long way to go before we can get back to there again. It is fantastic that Pat is in the position he is in, but he
is not in any position to be seen as the saviour of Australian tennis," said Newcombe in an interview on Friday.
John, though, has no doubts on Pat’s abilities and welcomed him back into the set up as Australia’s Davis Cup skipper however, warned the Australian fans not to expect too much from the former world number one.
According to the 66-year-old Newcombe, the job of bringing Australian tennis back on track does not lie solely on Rafter.
"Pat has the experience to bring a lot to the Davis Cup team. He started playing his Davis Cup matches with Tony Roche and myself way back in 1994, so he knows what it takes to win in that environment we had seven successful years together, so it is great
to have him back. Just to have his face there as someone the fans can identify with is a plus."
While a successful Australian Davis Cup side will be helpful in the rebuilding process, however Newcombe believes that the key is to find out new talent and hopes that Davis Cup coach Roche along with Pat can chip in to that process.
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