Lleyton Hewitt not guaranteed Davis Cup captaincy: Report

Tennis Australia will not guarantee Lleyton Hewitt the Davis Cup captaincy on his retirement next year and will instead open up the process to a group of applicants, a report said Tuesday.

The head body announced in January that the two-time Grand Slam champion would take over from the outgoing Pat Rafter as Davis Cup captain with Wally Masur filling in as interim skipper this year. 

But two-time Cup winner Pat Cash and former teammate Paul McNamee are also reported to be interested in the job.

They were both critical at the time of TA`s announcement during this year`s Australian Open to install Masur as interim captain in the period between Rafter`s elevation to the performance director`s role and the end of Hewitt`s long playing career.

TA president Steve Healy said he expected Masur to be considered as a longer-term captain, although Hewitt has a strong rapport with his young teammates and was still reportedly favoured to take over the role next year.

"I think Lleyton`s a fantastic candidate," Healy told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"He`s just the most passionate Davis Cup player, and he`s done a great job I think rebuilding a relationship with Bernie (Tomic) and all that sort of thing.

"But I just think there needs to be process and he`ll be obviously a huge candidate for it, but we`d just like to see a process. We`d like to hear from Lleyton -- and I`ve told Lleyton -- what his vision for Davis Cup and the team is, and so on."

He added that he understood why "people say `yeah, I didn`t get a chance`, and so we want to correct that and give people a chance and make it open and transparent".

Masur was in charge of the Australians` dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 win over Kazakhstan in Darwin at the weekend, qualifying them for the World Group semi-finals for the first time since 2006, where they will play Great Britain.

Hewitt won the fifth and deciding singles rubber.