Lleyton Hewitt's season-ending injury is expected to see teenage sensation Bernard Tomic introduced to the Australian Davis Cup team.
The Australian newspaper has reported that Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald is closely considering playing 15-year-old Tomic and also has his eye on other rising stars, Brydan Klein and Carsten Ball for the September tie against Chile.
Fitzgerald would not confirm the squad yet but indicated he had been looking outside his regular range of options.
"My first priority is to win every Davis Cup tie and if Lleyton was fit he would obviously be there," Fitzgerald said.
"It is going to be a potential step up for someone ... it has been something that has been coming for a while.
"Who knows what could happen and how they will react."
Hewitt will have surgery on his hip, his unavailability leaving Australia with seemingly little chance to win the September 19-21 tie in Antofagasta.
Tomic is ranked 846th in the world, but is regarded as a star of the future.
If he played in Chile he would replace John Alexander as Australia's youngest ever Davis Cup representative.
