Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

As the end of his career ticks up next month at the Australian Open, Lleyton Hewitt admits that he’s feeling the pressure with the end of an era approaching. The 34-year-old will call time on a run which took him to a pair of grand slam titles, the world No. 1 ranking as a teenager and success as perhaps one of the most enthusiastic Aussies to have ever competed in Davis Cup (winning the 2003 title).

But Hewitt confessed to AAP that he has been distracted prior to wrapping up his innings when he exits the Open next month; he then takes over as Australian Davis Cup captain, with a tie in March against the US already bearing down.

“I’m so competitive that my main focus is still trying to prepare as well as possible and then go out there and do all the small things,” said Hewitt prior to a weekend exho in Hobart against Sam Groth, “In some ways my mind has been preoccupied with the younger Australian boys and trying to work out the best thing for the rest of the Davis Cup squad to try and have a good result over the Australian summer and I guess you don’t really focus everything on your game then either.”

Hewitt said that working on his Davis Cup captaincy debut is taking a lot of mental energy; meanwhile he is hoping for a few easy matches at Melbourne Park after five-set losses at the US Open to Bernard Tomic, five against Jarkko Nieminen at Wimbledon and the same in Melbourne a year ago against Benjamin Becker in the second round.

“Hopefully I don’t lose in five sets again,” Hewitt said. “It feels like every send off I’ve had at every major event this year was like an epic five-set match. It will be nice to go out there and get a few wins and see how far I can go.”

Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.