As international tennis events go, it was at least unique.
It is Thursday morning in Darwin, and the Australia and Kazakhstan tennis teams file up the stairs at Crocosaurus Cove, past waiting media and curious tourists, and are led to their seats for the official Davis Cup draw ceremony for the weekend’s World Group quarter-final tie.
Peering over the clear barrier to the pool, the tennis players stare and laugh, and then pull out their phones to take photos – making sure to keep their particularly valuable arms in. Sitting below the balcony is the nonchalant local celebrity assigned to determine the identities of the players’ opponents this weekend – Burt, the five-metre, 700-plus kilogram saltie and star of Crocodile Dundee.
After introductions from local and tennis dignitaries, it’s down to business. Strung across the enclosure is a rope with four dangling pieces of raw chicken – feathers and all – each with a number and a flag attached. A croc handler waves a steak over Burt’s head, hoping to get him hungry.
Slowly, he rises out of the water, sniffs at the “Australia – 2” sign, but decides against it. The crowd and players laugh. Another minute, two minutes, and a few more teasing sniffs of the other contenders. “How are you feeling Nick?” asks the host. Australian star Nick Kyrgios, engrossed in filming the crocodile, doesn’t respond.
A voice calls out the time. “Three minutes!”. There is a contingency plan, the crowd is assured, just in case Burt isn’t hungry, but it’s not necessary. He propels himself out of the water and snatches at the chicken. It’s “Australia – 2”. Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis will play Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin on Friday as the first match of the quarter-finals. Kokkinakis, closing the camera app on his phone, nods. Kyrgios against Aleksandr Nedovyesov will follow.
This must be one one the strangest press stunts either team has been involved in. “It was fantastic actually,” Nedovyesov says later, smiling. “Just different to all of us, different feelings. We’re here in Australia, we didn’t expect that. We thought it was just going to be a usual draw but they kind of surprised us with the way they did it. It was nice.
“I held [a crocodile] the other day. They brought a little one. I was holding it in my hands and it was just incredible, the skin and everything was just different.”
And the tennis? “Once I step on the court I’m going to give everything I could, all my best, to cause an upset. That’s our goal,” says Nedovyesov.
“It was definitely something different,” Australia’s Sam Groth – who with veteran Lleyton Hewitt completes the hosts’ four-man lineup – tells Guardian Australia outside the event. “We were joking around a bit over on the balcony. I don’t think it’s too often you see the players getting their phones out at a draw ceremony. It was definitely something a little bit different and certainly unique to the Northern Territory.”
Asked if it was nerve-wracking being so close to Burt, Groth says, “No, I think we were pretty safe there behind the barrier, but we were told not to lean over. He was moving pretty slow, but I think he’s got a little more speed in him than he showed.”
Now the publicity stunts – including team photos with a baby croc named Lleyton – are over, the players are antsy for the competition. “I’m pumped to be here and pumped to be part of the team and just ready for it to start,” Groth says.
The tie will be played out across Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Darwin’s Marrara sports complex. It is the first time Darwin has hosted the Davis Cup, and the winner will play either Great Britain or France in September.
The draw:
Friday - singles
Thanasi Kokkinakis v Mikhail Kukushkin
Nick Kyrgios v Aleksandr Nedovyesov
Saturday – doubles
Sam Groth and Lleyton Hewitt v Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov
Sunday – reverse singles
Nick Kyrgios v Mikhail Kukushkin
Thanasi Kokkinakis v Aleksandr Nedovyesov
