Most people tend to look forward to retirement. And although retirement typically comes much earlier for the professional athlete than it does for the average person, they still may look forward to stepping away from the sport that constituted their job and exploring opportunities that they could not take advantage of during their competitive career. But there are exceptions to this rule, and it would seem Lleyton Hewitt is one of them.  The veteran Australian is set to hang up his racquet come January, but  there will be no time to miss him given that he has just recently been named the new captain of the Australian Davis Cup team.

That Hewitt is taking over the reins of Team Australia so quickly might be considered a shock, but there was little doubt that he was likely to be named captain at some juncture.  He certainly brings plenty to the table, starting with his experience and knowledge of the sport.  He has won majors in both singles and doubles, pulled off some phenomenal performances in Davis Cup play, and was the youngest men's player to finish the year ranked No. 1.  That he was able to achieve all of that with his relatively slight frame and the absence of a major weapon speaks volumes to his ability to construct points and utilize all facets of his game.  Furthermore, Hewitt has been through plenty of ups and down, including those that come with evolving from a brash upstart into a respected elder statesman.  Thus, he is in a solid position to impart wisdom and guidance to any player on his future Davis Cup teams, no matter what issues they may throw at him.

Hewitt's volatile relationship with fans and media over the years also makes him ideally suited to work with current Australian young guns like Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic.  Hewitt already enjoys a good relationship with both of these men, so they are more likely to listen to him and produce strong results under his tutelage than they might otherwise under someone else from Tennis Australia.  This would be a boon not only to the individual careers of Kyrgios and Tomic, but also to Australia's chances in the Davis Cup competition.  Between them and other promising talents from Down Under, Australia could find itself firmly in the hunt for the Davis Cup crown over the course of the next decade and entice other children to pick up a racquet and fall in love with the game.

Love of the game is something that Hewitt has always had in abundance.  That he has managed to keep competing after so many hip and foot surgeries is a testament to how much he lives and breathes tennis, and it perhaps is also an indicator as to why he is looking to be so quick to give back.  There were no excuses when he took a hard loss, and in his heyday, he was known as one of the toughest men to put away.  Injuries and the rise of more powerful opposition have taken their toll on Hewitt the last few years, but he has never lost that competitive spark that drives him to chase down every last ball.  If he can instill even a fraction of that work ethic in the members of his Davis Cup squads, he will have done a great service to Australian tennis.

Naturally, Hewitt is probably not thinking too far ahead towards his first days as Australian Davis Cup Captain.  There is, after all, still a little more tennis to be played before he calls time on his own professional career at his home major.  But there is no question that this was a smart move naming Hewitt Davis Cup captain, and fans of Australian tennis should be very excited to see what Hewitt is able to accomplish once he fully steps into his first post-retirement role.