Lleyton Hewitt tweeted this picture with a baby crocodile from the draw ceremony in Darwin.
Darwin: A fearsome crocodile with a past history in the cinema was used in a one-off draw participant in preparation for the Australia-Kazakhstan Davis Cup draw yesterday.
Burt, an aged amphibian featured in the Crocodile Dundee films of the 1980s, was lured to the surface of a pool by cuts of hanging meat, each labelled with the name of a Davis Cup player.
Whichever piece of protein - and in which order - the famished croc snapped up for lunch determined the pairings.
As a result of that unorthodox selection process, young gun Thanassi Kokkinakis was drawn to start the weekend against Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin, while Nick Kyrgios was following up with second singles against Aleksandr Nedovysov.
“This is the sort of atmosphere I love playing in front of,” said the sometimes-controversial Kyrgios. “When the crowd’s behind you, you can do some pretty good things. I feel we all thrive on that a little bit.”
Saturday singles will feature long-time campaigner Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth teaming for the hosts against Andrey Golubev and Nedosysov on the grass.
In chilly Ostend, 32-year-old journeyman Frank Dancevic is the last experienced man standing on a side whose major players Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil are both out injured.
Dancevis will start the tie against Belgian Steve Darcis while untested Canadian youngster Filip Peliwo takes on world number 14 David Goffin in the second singles.
In doubles, veteran Daniel Nestor will lead Davis debutant Adil Shamasdin against Ruben Bemelmans and Kimmer Coppejans.
