"When it became the Pique Cup, they sold the soul": Lleyton Hewitt accuses Davis Cup of constant 'lies' with no return to old format

Lleyton Hewitt has not backed down amid his two-week ban for pushing a doping official last year and has now levelled complaints at the ITF and the Davis Cup for their running of the event.

Hewitt who captains Australia's Davis Cup team has been one of the strongest opponents towards changes over the years to the event which saw it deviate from the old format ditching the home and away format. It saw teams either play at home or in their opponent's country. Now it's best of three sets and a lot of ties are played at neutral venues.

As Hewitt said himself, it was a change brought in when Gerard Pique's Kosmos ran the show for a little while until legal action forced them out. A move that Hewitt still reiterates sold the soul of the event. Now he has accused them of lying over the event reverting back and it is now devoid of meaning in his view.

"It's important because we've been told too many lies over the time, and when it became the (Gerard) 'Pique Cup' as well, they sold the soul and we want to try and get back to where it was meaningful," Hewitt said on Thursday in Sydney. "The two biggest things for Davis Cup was home-and-away ties, which was a stand-out point of difference to anything else we do.

"The pinnacle was the grand slams and best-of-five-set tennis, and that's what Davis Cup was. If you look back over the years at any stage of the greatest Davis Cup matches, they are all massive five-set epics that people talk about."

They face Belgium but it is the first time in three years they are playing in their home country with Australia often forced to travel. They will again if they make it to the finals with Bologna hosting the event again in November.

"To make those changes and also the change of surface too and to continually play the finals (in the same location) ... I feel like it's a massive disadvantage for us," he added.

"The frustration of playing in the same place all the time and just playing away ties, it does get wearing. These boys don't get the opportunity to come back and play in Australia, and I feel like the young kids and people that want to play the sport of tennis miss out.

"Back when I was playing, it could have been three or four times a year that we got to come back here, and right at the moment tennis is only seen in Australia in January (for the Australian Open), where you get to get up close and see these guys. That's bloody hard on our sport in general."

While Hewitt has to deal with a myriad of issues mostly around any of his top names not being able to play. Rinky Hijikata will make his debut with both Alexei Popyrin and Matt Ebden out. He still will be able to call on Alex de Minaur though who is involved over the next week. "I'm going to be making three changes tomorrow to our named team," Hewitt also said. "Alexei Popyrin's out. He's been injured after the US Open with a back injury, and Matt Ebden has got a small tear in his elbow as well.

"Really excited for Rinky, though. It's going to be his first time wearing the green and gold, and for him to get an opportunity at a place where he grew up playing as well, it's something really special. That's one of the greatest things about my job, is giving these guys that opportunity."