Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt has confirmed both Nick Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur wanted to play for Australia this week before injuries forced their withdrawal.
Australia will take on Brazil in a Davis Cup playoff in Adelaide, with the winner qualifying for the finals in Madrid later this year.
Both Kyrgios and De Minaur have had an injury-interrupted start to the season and after consultation, Hewitt opted to bring in Alex Bolt and John Peers as replacement.
Hewitt said an “awkward” timeframe meant he had no other choice but to seek replacement for the Aussie pair.
“We spoke about it at the start of the year and both boys wanted to put their hands up,” he said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“I have to nominate a team to the International Tennis Federation 10 days out from the tie which is as awkward time as the both were under an injury cloud going into Acapulco which was last week.
“I was in constant contact with both guys and their medical teams, Nick had a wrist injury in the last three weeks that had flared up. He wanted to go out and try it out – in the end he wasn’t good enough and had to withdrawal in his first match.
“Alex is probably slightly different – he wanted to go through and play Acapulco after being out for four weeks during the Australian Open with an abdominal tear. As it was, he went down in a tight three setter and it flared up a little bit.
“He doesn’t want to do more damage that would set him back six to nine months.
You can listen to Lleyton Hewitt on SEN SA Breakfast in the player below.