Australian tennis will remain in the Davis Cup wilderness for another year after a crushing defeat at the hands of Germany in Hamburg.
The Australian veteran Leyton Hewitt lost the deciding singles rubbber in straight sets to Germany's world number 127 Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, after Australia had led the tie 2-1. Bernard Tomic had also lost his reverse singles.
Australia have lost World group playoffs for the last three years, and they'll be spending their sixth straight season in the second tier of the Davis Cup.
