He was on the winning side in the 1999 final as the Australians beat France on clay in Nice, although he lost his opening match and saw Mark Philippoussis emerge as the hero with victories in both his singles matches.

The 22-year-old then suffered the frustration of being injured and ruled out of his country’s first-round 5-0 defeat away to Argentina last year, which condemned them to a relegation play-off against India.

But now the world number one is delighted to be able to emulate former Wimbledon finalist and friend Pat Rafter and lead out the home side against a severely depleted British team in the world group first-round tie at the Olympic venue of Homebush.

“I really enjoy being the number one Australian, especially in Davis Cup ties going out there and trying to get the team off to a good start on day one,” said Hewitt.

“I had to do that in 1999 against Russia in Brisbane after Pat (Rafter) and Flip (Philippoussis) were injured and I enjoyed taking it to Yevgeny Kafelnikov on the third day.

“Sitting on the sidelines in 1997 and seeing Pat come back from two sets and a break down against Cedric Pioline, who had made the Wimbledon final before that on grass, was one of the main reasons I wanted to play Davis Cup. Why I loved Davis Cup so much was that that was my first-ever Davis Cup match.”

This week’s tie will also be the first time since his heroics in the 1999 final that Philippoussis has played in the competition, a combination of serious injuries and a fall-out with the previous team management keeping the world number 94 out of the side.

The return of the 26-year-old from Melbourne makes the home side overwhelming favourites against a British team deprived of Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski through injury, and also gives captain John Fitzgerald plenty of options when selecting his doubles pairing.

Fitzgerald can call on the services of veteran Todd Woodbridge, still ranked fifth in the world in doubles, as well as world number 44 Wayne Arthurs, Philippoussis and Hewitt, and insists he will be going all out for victory if the Australians take the expected 2-0 lead after the first day.

“It’s always another option, me and Flip playing doubles,” Hewitt added. “The tough thing about playing singles players in the Davis Cup is you don’t know how you’re going to feel after the first day, and you want to save some energy for the last day as well because there are a lot of rubbers.

“Flip and I had spoken and were probably going to play doubles in Madrid at the end of last year but I pulled out with sickness and his knee wasn’t ready anyway. In the future if we can get a few matches under our belts in tournaments then we can surely have another option in Davis Cup.”

As for his own objectives, Hewitt is targeting more major titles to add to his Wimbledon and US Open crowns, and believes a fit Australian team can challenge for the Davis Cup title.

“I believe I’m good enough to keep winning majors, majors and the Davis Cup I hold pretty close to my heart this year,” he added.

“After what happened last year and not being able to go out there and play, I think everyone knows how much I would have liked to play in Argentina with our backs against the wall. I was as disappointed as anyone not to be there with the boys.

“I feel like with the Davis Cup, if we have a fit squad all year, there’s no reason why we can’t go all the way.”