Jordan Thompson’s day started by being dropped as Australia’s Davis Cup singles opener – however ended with him being feted because the dazzling doubles stand-in who helped blast his nation into the ultimate.
No surprise the hirsute Sydneysider’s can-do perspective, aptitude and flexibility has made him captain Lleyton Hewitt’s ‘Mr Fixit’ in Spain this week, as he is jumped from being a battling solo star to unlikely doubles hero.
But the query now’s: what function will ‘Thommo’ have in Sunday’s (Monday AEDT) showdown in opposition to both Canada or Italy, as Australia stand on the verge of changing into the lads’s world crew tennis champions for the primary time in 19 years?
Surely, it could be unthinkable for him to not have a key function within the closing after his heroics this week, beginning when Hewitt gauged Thanasi Kokkinakis wasn’t fairly sharp sufficient for the opening singles in opposition to the Netherlands in Tuesday’s quarter-final and plumped for Thompson as a substitute.
The reliable 28-year-old vindicated that call by incomes a vital win, but it surely wasn’t sufficient to land him the singles job in Friday’s semi-final as Kokkinakis’s additional firepower earned him the possibility to tackle – however ultimately lose to – Croatia’s Borna Coric.
Instead, Hewitt had different plans for Thompson, bringing him in to interchange the injured Matt Ebden in what turned out to be the doubles decider – and watching him bond brilliantly with Max Purcell as they edged the Olympic champions Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic in three units.
Asked if he’d been disillusioned to be dropped from the singles, Thompson sounded virtually affronted.
“Whatever role the team needs me in, I’ll do that role,” he mentioned.
“I still got to wear the green and gold and alongside Maxie in a do-or-die doubles match. To put us in the final, that feeling, I can’t describe it. Anything the team needs me for, I’ll stick my hand up.”
He might miss out, although. If Ebden was to be match once more, he’d absolutely hyperlink up along with his Wimbledon-winning companion Purcell, whereas Hewitt might also nonetheless desire to offer Kokkinakis one other likelihood within the singles as back-up to key man Alex de Minaur.
That would go away Thompson being a bench cheerleader – however this good crew man would probably throw himself into that with gusto too.
Hewitt clearly has extra difficult choice choices forward, whoever his aspect faces.
“Italy are undermanned (without their star duo Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner) … they play with a lot of passion and fight out there, and have an experienced doubles pair (Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini) that can get the job done under pressure,” he mentioned.
“Canada, they have just got firepower. Two very quality singles players (Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov), obviously. Doubles-wise, we lost to them a couple ofyears ago in the quarter-finals, the two guys that got them through last night (Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil).”
One sure rubber if the Canadians get there can be Auger-Aliassime in opposition to de Minaur, with the Australian having to face the largest risk but to his fabulous current Davis Cup run.
Hewitt, who admits he depends closely on a participant lower from the identical hardy fabric as him, shrugged: “The way Alex has played this year, he really deserves to be playing in a final.”
