Davis Cup slugger Jordan Thompson has no problem with Australian captain Lleyton Hewitt taking a youngster's place in the Australian Open men's doubles draw.
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Fresh from laughing off Bernard Tomic's plea to "go away", Hewitt will saddle up for a 22nd Australian Open on Thursday, pairing with John-Patrick Smith.
Hewitt, whose first campaign at Melbourne Park came in 1997 as a 15-year-old, claimed to be unfazed by Tomic's recent rant and plainly hasn't lost the urge to compete.
The two-time major winner dusted off his Davis Cup playing kit last year and has indicated he'd be keen to do so again in future.
"Lleyton's legacy and his tennis speaks for itself. He's an unbelievable champion ... but what he's doing now is wrong," Tomic said.
"I thought he retired but he's playing all these matches.
"If he's retired, why are you still in tennis?"
The Davis Cup captain, who required a wildcard into the 2019 Open, is taking no notice of Tomic's opinion and will face off against Kiwi Marcus Daniell and Dutchman Wesley Koolhof, in the low-key surroundings of court seven.
Hewitt will receive at least $10,500 for his services - and more should the duo progress deeper into the tournament.
Thompson, a Hewitt acolyte who played with the Wimbledon champion at the Sydney International, said Hewitt's form merited entry.
"We made the semi-finals (in Sydney) and came within a whisker of making the final so I don't see what the problem is," he said after falling in the second round of the singles on Wednesday.
Two Australians will return to singles action on Thursday, and both will start as outsiders as they look to make the third round.
Next-gen hope Alexei Popyrin faces world No.8 Dominic Thiem, while Alex Bolt plays 29th seed Gilles Simon.
Popyrin won on his grand slam debut on Tuesday, while Bolt, 26, claimed a breakthrough triumph at his fourth major.
Bolt struck 22 aces among a staggering 56 winners in his first-round win over Jack Sock and promised to take it up to the French veteran.
"My serve let me dictate points quite a fair bit during the match and I felt like that was the decisive factor," he said.
"I'm up there playing the best tennis I've played through my career and I still feel like I can do better. Good things are going to come."
There are no women in singles action on Thursday, but several women will begin their doubles campaigns.
Chief among the Aussie contingent is Ashleigh Barty, scheduled to play doubles with former champion Victoria Azarenka against Chinese 16th seeds Shuai Peng and Zhaoxuan Yang.
Australian Associated Press
